It All Started With Blue Goo
by Bama8714
Summary: So here's a story about a regular girl named Cassandra Barlow who is introduced to a species and a world she never thought existed; her entire worldview changes. And she herself changes too XD. Maybe she'll even get her first taste of love along the way.
1. Chapter 1

**Universe**: This story takes place in the Transformers: Prime universe, after Smokescreen is introduced. (I don't really stick to the show's plot, though).

**Pairing**: Soundwave X OC (a character named Cassandra Barlow, AKA Whitethorn)

**Warning**: There'll be some mild language and Cybertronian cuss words. Nothing too bad, I don't think, but if people tell me otherwise I'll change the rating.

**Disclaimer**: Unfortunately, I don't own Transformers; they belong to Hasbro. :( I do, however, own Cassandra, Ellie and any other humans I might decide to add.

**Author's Note**: This is my first attempted fanfic, so bear with me! Ultimately, I had fun writing it so I hope you get some enjoyment out of reading it. I apologize if any of the characters are OOC... I'm working on it. You'll see that there are several points of views in this story, but you'll know who's talking by the header (which is in all caps and underlined). Oh, and I'd love to hear **anything** you have to say about the story. Is it good, bad, okay, horrible? Review, people! I eat up reviews like they're candy (even the flaming ones). Anyways... on with the story!

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CASSANDRA'S POV

I dragged the dish rag across the counter of the coffee shop, allowing a small smile to pull up the corner of my mouth at the sight of my little sister Ellie studying diligently with the review cards I made her for tomorrow's history test. It would be covering World War II, and the amount of specific dates and events that were going to be on that test was insane. I certainly don't remember having such a hard time in sixth grade social studies. It's a good thing she's smart and a hard worker. Yeah… I'm proud of her.

Soon enough, my last customers left the building and my shift was over. I peeled off my coffee-stained apron and let out a long yawn. I haven't been getting much sleep lately, worrying about how I was going to pay the bills this month and all. I always manage to scrounge up enough money for our tiny apartment, but I've been cutting it close as of late. And… it kind of tears me apart inside. I know Ellie deserves so more than this. She's bright and smart and beautiful and I just want to do what's best for her. Sometimes I wonder if I should've handed her over to a foster family like the agent had suggested. Truth be told, I didn't want to hand her over to anybody else after Mom died. I'd practically raised her since she was born and she was all the family I'd ever really had. I… _couldn't _let her go. Selfish? Maybe.

We made it to the door to only then realize that there was a heavy downpour outside. Ellie giggled while I grabbed the old, striped umbrella that somebody always left so courteously at the front door.

"I love the rain," Ellie elbowed me with a big smile. "I wish we could just walk outside without the…" her words trailed off when a big boom of thunder sounded in the sky. She let out a huff. "Ugh, I hate thunder!"

"You and me both," I smirked at her before popping open the small umbrella and placing it securely in her hands. "But I hate lightning more. Now let's get home before the lightning catches up," I grabbed her hand and stepped out with her into the cold, pelting rain.

We were walking fast through the watery onslaught, rushing down an alleyway when all of a sudden I felt something wet that seemed quite different from the rain. Ellie gasped, staring at me with wide eyes. I squinted at her confusedly until the gooey stuff dripped from my head down my face, and to the rest of my body. All too soon, I was covered head-to-toe in thick blue goo. And don't get me started on how awful it tasted.

"Oh wow," Ellie laughed outright, clearly unable to stop herself. Her short, curly blonde hair bounced up and down as she did so. "What did the bird eat for it to poop _that_?"

"It's not bird poop!" I shouted, about to throw a hissy fit. "It's… it's sticky blue goo and it tastes terrible! Stop laughing at me! Anyways, it's starting to make me feel kind of weird…"

She blinked once, amusement slowly melting into concern. "Cass? Are… are you okay?"

My insides suddenly lit up like fire. I became numb to everything around me as I dropped to my knees and screamed. Now, I've broken a few bones and gotten my fair share of cuts and scrapes. Hell, Dad even ran over my foot a couple times when I was younger. But I've _never _experienced anything like this. I don't really know how to explain it, other than if you know how it feels to be ripped apart and burned from the inside out.

My eyesight dimmed, and I could only watch helplessly as the world around me gently faded away.

ELLIE'S POV

Ellie watched in horror as her sister collapsed onto the ground. "Cassandra! Cass, wake up!" she screamed, reaching over to shake her. She recoiled though when the tip of her finger touched the blue goo; it was hot and awfully painful to the touch. Quickly she wiped it off on the ground and commenced yelling once more.

No matter how loud she yelled, no one seemed to hear her or care. New York was arguably as loud or louder at night than it was in the day. Ellie let out a soft whimper before jumping to her feet, intending to run into the street to find somebody. She wasn't allowed to have a cell phone until she was thirteen, so there was no way to call for an ambulance. The only phone remotely close was her sister's, which was buried deep in her pocket, guarded fiercely by that icky blue goo.

Something incredible stopped her from leaving. She watched: eyes and mouth opened wide, as her sister's body began to glow and transform. Her light, smooth skin was replaced with shiny white metal as her body gradually grew bigger and changed shape. Metal clanked and grinded against each other right before her eyes, slowly stealing her sister away.

Ellie lurched back in shock. "Wh-what?" she whispered, confused and frightened. "Cass?"

Her attention was snapped away from Cassandra when a bright green light filled the sky above her. A jet zoomed out of it, nearly crushing into the brick wall behind her. She clapped a hand over her mouth to stop herself from screaming when it morphed from a jet into a giant robot, vaguely similar to what her sister seemed to be made of.

"The relic! It's broken and empty!" the robot angrily plucked up a cylindrical tube from the top of the building beside them before throwing it back down in blind fury.

Evil-looking red eyes scanned the alley it landed into, instantly landing on her sister's body.

"Now who is this? Too pretty to be just lying around," he gave a weird smile and knelt down. The sharp tips of his fingers were just barely grazing the metal plating of her sister, startling Ellie from her reverie.

"Get away from her!" Ellie shouted shakily, marching up to the giant. She bravely met his crimson-colored eyes. "_Leave _her alone!"

Rage contorted his features into an ugly mess. "How dare you speak to me that way, you… you... skinjob! Prepare to die!" he lifted his arm and she suddenly found herself staring down the muzzle of a gun that was bigger than she was.

Ellie balled up her fists and squeezed her eyes tightly shut, awaiting the inevitable. However, a second bright green light sent her eyes flying open. Two more robots came out of this one, effectively startling the one in front of her. There was a yellow one and a smaller blue and pink one. Both had their guns pointed to the one in front of her.

"I suggest that you back away from the human, Starscream," the blue and pink one ordered in a deadly serious tone.

"And why would I do that?" he demanded, yet spun around to face them anyways. "I can take you two on _easy_."

But then, three more robots came out of the green light, causing the Starscream robot to yelp a little. Muttering a string of words she didn't understand, he grabbed her sister, transformed into a jet, and took off into the dark sky.

Ellie let out a shrill scream, rushing forward to where he had taken off. "No! Cass!"

CASSANDRA'S POV

I truthfully didn't expect to wake up. It was by some miracle that I came into consciousness, though when my eyes opened, I kind of wished I hadn't. I was staring up at a _living robot_. It winked at me, and I honest to God almost passed out a second time. Somehow, I managed to pull myself together and hold on a bit longer. I shakily pushed myself up so I was sitting, but in doing so, I realized that I wasn't in _my _body. I was alive and fully functioning, yes, but I was made of metal! I was a freaking robot just like he was! Is this some kind of sick version of heaven or hell? Am I dead? Are angels giant robots?

"Welcome back, femme," the red bot announced. "You are currently on Lord Megatron's warship… the Nemesis. Welcome aboard. He will speak to you once you're stable."

"M-Megatron?" I choked out fearfully, as I was still having a hard time believing what my eyes and ears were telling me. I don't think I'm heaven or hell, and I sure as heck know I'm not in New York anymore.

He smirked knowingly. "You're stable alright."

So, I was forced off the metal table by the red bot who introduced himself as Knockout, and then led out of the room into a dark hallway. I was a bit rocky handling my new body, but I did best I could, and Knockout seemed more than happy to hold me close and help me out. I wasn't really focusing in on him and all he was saying, though. I was too busy gazing around at my surroundings. It was dark and mostly monochromatic—with shades of black, silver and purple. There were no windows, so I had no idea if I was even on Earth in the first place. I could be on a whole other planet, for all I knew.

We passed by several other bots on the way there, who openly stared and whispered comments that I couldn't hear. Let's just say I was having a pretty difficult time adjusting to my current situation. I would call it a nightmare come true, but I don't think I've ever had the imagination to come up with something like this. I flexed my silver digits, wondering how the hell I got this way. I suppose it could've been the blue goo. After all, it did drop from a roof in The Big Apple, and you just never know with that city.

I hope Ellie's okay.

With a slight push from behind, I entered a large, open, domed space. I wisely decided to keep my mouth shut, as I was extremely uncertain at this point. A big, silvery bot glared at me from across the room with searing red eyes. I shivered involuntarily, refusing to move an inch. A more slender silver bot with equally red eyes stood beside the taller one, and gave me a grin that caused me to shudder a second time. The faceless one seemed scary at first—as I couldn't see his eyes or read his face—but the way he stood so calm and still managed to relax me the slightest bit.

"State your designation," the big one bellowed, eyes narrowing as they raked almost hungrily up and down my body. Knockout whizzed past me to stand behind the faceless one and watch with mild curiosity.

I opened my mouth and just about did so, but what I saw lying broken in a corner stopped my words cold. It was a _human skull_, all broken and shattered. My heart—or whatever I had in this strange body—skipped a beat. I must still be on Earth then. More than that, though… these guys look like they really hate humans. And since they seem to have names like 'Knockout' and 'Megatron', stating my real name might not be a smart decision right now.

"I-I don't remember," I stumbled through the words. The big bot in front of me really did scare the crap out of me.

His face filled with rage, and I flinched. However, I guess God decided to give me a break for once, because the big metal beast turned on the slender red-eyed one instead. "How is this femme supposed to help us figure out what happened to the relic if she doesn't even remember her own name?! You have failed me yet again, Starscream!"

Starscream threw his clawed hands up in front of his face and shrieked, "Forgive me, Lord Megatron! I only inferred that she would know! But she still may be of some use!"

"You'd better hope so," Megatron growled in a feral tone. It took all I had not to go running out of there. "Your spark depends on her success," he swiveled to face a startled Knockout. "Knockout! See to it that this femme is properly initiated."

"Yes, Lord Megatron," Knockout bowed extravagantly and Megatron scoffed. "Consider it done."

Suddenly, Megatron faced me again. Fear iced my veins, but I stood firm. "Bow before your new master, femme," he ordered in a gruff, pleased voice.

I've never bowed to anyone but my sister before, and that was just in a playful gesture. It didn't feel right at all to be bowing to him, but did I honestly have a choice? He looked like he could knock me dead with one strike! Megatron impatiently crooked a finger at me, while the two behind him nodded encouragingly… desperately. The faceless one remained still, passive and silent as before. Through clenched teeth, I bent over in a low bow. I briefly caught sight of my robot reflection on the stainless steel floor, and I grimaced. This was the only way I thought to survive. And I had to survive… for Ellie. I _would _find her, no matter what it takes.


	2. Chapter 2

CASSANDRA'S POV

Later, I waited silently in the room while Knockout worked with controls of some kind. Megatron was ordering the faceless bot called Soundwave around, while Starscream was discreetly inching closer and closer to me by the second. He tried to talk to me too, but I remained stubbornly mute. I thought it was the smart thing to do. And the closer he got to me, the closer I got to Knockout. Sometimes you've got to choose the seemingly lesser evil.

Effectively avoiding Starscream for the umpteenth time, I rushed over to Knockout as a glowing green, circular thing filled the space. He gestured me over.

"What's that?" I couldn't stop from blurting out.

"It's a space bridge. It can take us from here to anywhere else on this planet. Right now, its purpose will be for you to find an effective disguise."

If the space bridge can take us anywhere, then it could take me to New York City! I could find Ellie, and God knows I need to do that as soon as possible.

Hesitantly I followed after him. We stepped into the swirling green light and emerged cleanly from the other side. It was nighttime outside, with the full moon shining bright in the sky and the average-sized town sleeping soundly beneath it. The motel down the street didn't even have its lights on. I doubted anyone would see us.

I pretty much ignored Knockout the whole way there, as he was drilling me on frame types and finishes I should look out for. Apparently, I had to have a disguise as an automobile. I had to admit it was a pretty cool thought. I've always loved cars, especially racing them—as Dad was a famous racecar driver—and the thought of _being _one was nothing short of mind-blowing. Then again, everything that's happened since I woke up has been pretty astonishing… _earth-shattering_ is more like it.

I continued to ignore the red dude-bot as I ventured over to a closed car dealership. There were a couple lots of cars for show, all shiny, new and ready for wear. There was a good selection of cars for display, but I was immediately drawn to a white Lamborghini Aventador. Impressive to find it in a town like this. I recognized the car from past experience; it was fast and fun with a great engine. I've raced a car like it before, and it was pretty amazing. I stepped up to it, and before I could think twice, a blue light emitted from my chest, scanning the car. I felt the metal on my body shift a bit and I suppressed the shiver that came with it.

Knockout walked up behind me, clapping me on the shoulder hard enough for me to jump a little. "Very nice," he more or less purred. "I believe you have more taste than I thought you would."

I sighed at that, turned around, and reluctantly followed him back to the portal.

Since it was late, I was given a room on the warship and a time when I should be up in the morning. The room was relatively small and empty, except for a metal thing to sleep on that was called a berth. I've slept on some hard surfaces before, but I had to admit that a metal table was a new one.

I waited in my room for a little while before sneaking out. I knew that what I was doing was risky and even a little dangerous, but that definitely wasn't going to stop me. If that space bridge can take me back to New York—where Ellie is—then there's no way I'm _not _going to try and use it.

However, I found out that it was kind of difficult tiptoeing through the halls… since I was made of metal and all. Oh, and that fact's still creeping me out. The only way I'm staying sane is by telling myself I'll change back soon, somehow. I'm sure there's a way. There has to be.

I entered the large space I'd been in before, feeling curious now. So what were these metal giants called Decepticons doing on Earth in the first place? Why aren't they on their own planet? If they even have one. Ugh, I wish I knew more.

Growing frustrated, I marched over to where I'd seen the space bridge open up earlier. I fiddled with the controls, but for the life of me I just couldn't figure it out. I ground my teeth… or whatever I had… as desperation wracked me. I had to get out of here!

"Well, well, well," an all too familiar voice came from behind me, causing me to freeze in place. "What do we have here?"

I spun around, eyeing Starscream carefully. "I was just… um… exploring," I lied with a shrug. "Am I not allowed to do that?"

"Not without supervision."

I mentally rolled my eyes. I'm twenty-one years old! I don't need freaking supervision. "Fine, I'll go back to my room then," I angrily walked past him, intent on figuring out the space bridge tomorrow maybe.

Starscream grabbed my arm before I could get away. "I never said you had to leave," he fidgeted then, as if uncomfortable. "As a self-respecting femme, why would you choose an automobile as a disguise when you could have flight? Not that it doesn't compliment your figure…"

I shrugged again. "I didn't see any planes or jets in the town. Knockout took me to a car dealership, so I chose one of the vehicles there."

"Of course he took you there…" his iron grip on my arm tightened. He tried to pull me closer to him, while I tried my best to slip away. I didn't really like being alone with this bot. Or any bot for that matter. "You know, femme, you should owe your full allegiance to me," he hissed lowly. "I'm the one who found you in that city, not Megatron. I'm the one who brought you back to the Nemesis and had Knockout pull you out of stasis. Your life belongs to _me_."

I stopped struggling at the mention of the city. I gazed up at him inquiringly. "You found me in a city? Did you… see anything else there? Any_one _else?"

He frowned. "There was no one except for a mouthy human. I was about to finish her off, too, before those dastardly Autobots interrupted me. You're lucky I got you before they did."

"Autobots?" I couldn't help but blurt out. At his strange expression, I continued, "Sorry, I don't remember much."

"The Autobots are few in numbers, decisively weak and led by that idiot Optimus Prime. They are making our resurrection of Cybertron quite difficult in the process, and they even care about the skinjobs of this planet! They are against us taking Earth as our new home, or at least as our personal mining planet!" he was really getting in my face now. He grabbed my chin, forcing me unbearably close. It was everything I could do not to flinch or recoil. "And they have _pets_! Fleshy, tiny, disgusting—"

"Starscream," a dark voice hissed from the shadows, causing us both to jump. Starscream leapt away from me, turning fearfully to face and bow to Megatron. I grudgingly did the same. Oh, I _really _hate these Decepticons now. They were trying to take Earth as their own, and kill all the humans in the process!

Soundwave stood behind him, standing eerily still and silent as usual. What, does the big dude-bot take him everywhere? Huh… I kind of feel sorry for him.

"You," Megatron pointed a digit at Starscream, who rapidly retreated from it. "What are you doing here with Whitethorn?"

Whitethorn? Oh, how fantastic… he _named _me.

"Nothing, Lord Megatron! I simply found her wanderi—"

"Leave, Starscream!" Megatron barked at him so loud and fierce that he was gone in an instant. I tried to do the same thing, but Megatron stopped me quick. "Not you, Whitethorn."

I fiddled with my thumbs nervously as he got closer. Now Megatron, him I'm afraid of. And the proximity of his loyal officer Soundwave certainly didn't help the situation either.

"Do you accept that one day soon I will rule Cybertron, as or as well as Earth?" Megatron queried. I easily saw it as a rhetorical question, so I nodded and agreed. It seemed to please him. "That's because I will. I've come to this realization as well, but I've understood that I will need someone loyal to stand by my side when I take supreme rule. After all, I'll need an heir. I need someone I can count on… someone I may _bond _with.

"You may have seen that I am in short supply of loyal companions lately. There are but a few mechs I've believed worthy of this position; however, I've always been more attracted to femmes," he touched my smooth, metallic cheek and my mind went blank. Oh shit. "Airachnid is clearly out of the question, and since you are the newest and most easily influenced bot here, I have chosen you for the position. You will be trained as I see fit and closely protected until it is time," he glanced over his shoulder. "Soundwave, you will be her guardian. You will watch over her and keep her protected and with you until the time comes."

And with that, Megatron turned heel and left. I remained planet to the spot, my mouth hanging open and my eyes wide. As I said before, only now with more urgency: I've got to get the hell out of here! I don't know what a bondmate is, and I honestly don't want to find out. Given that the title has 'mate' in it, I can only imagine.

Since Soundwave was watching me avidly—I think—I was forced to leave the main room  
and return to my quarters. I shrieked when I stepped into my room and found that he had followed me.

"I don't think he meant you had to follow me to my room," I growled under my breath. "Look, you can do whatever you want and follow out your orders, but you're so not watching me sleep," I boldly pushed him out into the hallway and let the doors slide shut after him, sealing him out.

It should've felt strange and awkward sleeping on that metal table, but it wasn't. Besides, not long after I sat down I fell into what could be called sleep, I guess, except that it felt deeper and more satisfying than usual dozes. I was actually feeling reasonably good… until I onlined my optics. _Onlined my optics? _Where in the world did that come from?

There, looming at the side of my berth, was none other than Soundwave. I emitted a sharp squeal, more out of shock and disbelief than fear. "Soundwave! What are you doing here? Trying to give me a heart attack? Dear God… _tell _me you haven't been standing there all night."

Soundwave tilted his helm and a squiggly line ran across it, like on hospital monitors, as he vocalized a command from Megatron last night: "_Soundwave, you will be her guardian. You will watch over her and keep her protected and with you until the time comes._"

"So you can talk… sort of," I folded my arms over my chassis and shook my helm somberly. "I guess you can record sound then? Knockout told me you're the communications officer and the technical specialist," I looked up for confirmation.

Silence.

I was pretty much rushed around and herded like an animal for the first half of the day. And Soundwave never spoke a word throughout the whole of it. First, he gave me energon that apparently served as 'breakfast'. I consumed it tentatively, and though it was by no means a bowl of cereal, it wasn't as bad as I figured. After that, he tried to take me to the wash racks. However, once I figured out that his intent was to literally _wash _me, I fled the scene and flat-out refused to return with him with me. I may have a giant robot body, but that doesn't mean I'm all okay about other bots' hands touching it. My body is my body, no matter how soft or hard it may be. Thankfully enough, I managed to convince him to leave me alone in the wash racks so I could do it myself. I found it difficult to reach certain areas, but it was a lot better doing it this way than the latter.

In the wash racks, I made a startling discovery. I was running the cold water over my helm and thinking about how nice it would be to have a hot shower in my apartment when I realized something. I haven't even tried to transform back into a human. Sure, it sounds stupid, but surely it's something I should've tried? So I drew in a deep breath and did just that. This may sound incredibly preposterous, but… it worked. I turned back into a human. I was even wearing my work clothes from that night! I was ecstatic by my discovery, though I knew I couldn't make a run for it now with Soundwave waiting outside the door. I'd have to wait for the right time. Heaving a sigh and running my fingers through my long, unruly white-blonde hair, I concentrated and transformed back into a bot. Unfortunately, I started to feel dizzy after that. What I did was very unnatural and no doubt unhealthy for my body. Next time I'll try to do it slower.

After I was done bathing I was dragged to Knockout's med bay. On the way there, I couldn't help but thinking about how funny it was that Knockout was supposed to be the medic here. Medics are supposed to be all caring and careful and kind, while he's… not. I was sure to smother my laughter when Soundwave turned around to inspect. I didn't need him thinking me any more nuts than I'm already certain he thinks I am. I can't be sure if he's suspicious of me or not. To blend in more, ever since I woke up I've been trying to cut back on the human swear words and terminology. I was hoping I could blend in that way.

I was set on a berth in the med bay and almost immediately after Knockout approached with a branding iron. He looked a bit too happy holding it for my tastes, and I inched away in horror. "What do you think you're doing? Get that thing away from me!" I fought against Soundwave's inhumanly strong grip.

Knockout gave a wide, disturbing grin, revealing his pearly white dentas. He looked like one of those mad, evil scientists… except for the fact that he's clearly a bot. "I have been ordered to make you an official Decepticon, which means you will have to graciously accept all the accessories that come with it. This, being one of them. Maintaining appearances is a pain, my dear. It will brand the Decepticon insignia on your plating, making you one of our own. Don't worry, though; it won't hurt… for long."

My shoulders drooped as I realized that I didn't have a way out of this. Something inside me turned and shuddered at the thought of wearing the Decepticon insignia. I should despise these blasted hunks of metal for trying to steal my planet—which I do. As Knockout prepared to brand the purple robotic face right about the area where my human heart would be, I found myself doing the opposite of fighting Soundwave's grasp. Instead, I scooted black closer to him and wrapped my servos tight around him. I know that Soundwave isn't supposed to show emotion, but it sure sounded like something close to it when he produced a strange sound and shifted ever so slightly. Even Knockout seemed stunned by it. Stunned, but not discouraged. He repainted that signature grin on his face and pressed the searing hot brand to my plating. I groaned and pressed my faceplates to Soundwave's arm. So _this _must be what getting a tattoo is like. At least now I know I definitely don't ever want one.

For the rest of the day, Soundwave had to work… which translated into him staring at a screen for hours on end. The 'exciting' parts were when we had to type something in. And since he was my guardian, I was forced to stay with him. There was nothing for me to do, there was no one else in the room, and there were no chairs or berths to sit on, so I gave up and plunked right down on the floor. I gazed across the room at the controls to the space bridge in dismay. So close, yet so fragging far away.

"Soundwave, when are you going to be done?!" I shamelessly whined after another hour of silence. "Isn't there something I can do?"

He turned around and calmly shook his head. I sent him a lazy glare before collapsing backwards onto the hard floor. Ugh, boredom.

Fortunately, my boredom didn't last long. Soundwave decoded the location of the latest relic, alerting the attention of Megatron and Starscream. At that point, I decided to sit up like a normal bot. Megatron ordered him and Starscream to go pick up the relic before the Autobots could get it, and to bring me with them. Soundwave didn't exactly refuse the command—he'd never do that—but did point out with hand gestures and recordings that I was too young and inexperienced to go straight to the field. Okay, I knew my inexperience was obvious, but why the slag did he think I was too young? Hmm… well, I suppose it could have something to do with me sitting and lying on the floor, not to mention my whining.

"You are _taking _Whitethorn with you. She needs the field experience. And you know very well what will happen if you allow her to perish or get into any trouble."

Starscream bowed while Soundwave remained as he was. Of course he'd follow through with his master's orders. That was never a question.

I moved through the bright green space bridge with the two mechs. We ended up on the highway, near a bridge that stretched over a wide river. Starscream and Soundwave transformed into jets, and I into my car mode. They flew over to the bridge, me doing the same on the ground. It wasn't long before we got company. An Urbana 500, a blue and pink motorcycle, a blue and red semi, a big green vehicle, and a white and blue sports car appeared. I could tell they were unwanted company by the way the jets above us were aiming shots at them. Well, yeah, I guess it was obvious.

Chaos ensued after that. Humans in their cars desperately tried to get away as fire and smoke filled the air. The unwanted visitors continually rammed into me, nearly making me fly off the bridge at one point. I transformed just in time to grip the edge of the bridge and swing myself back up. Soundwave transformed in front of me, crouched low with his tentacles everywhere. I peered past him curiously as the big blue and red one spoke to him.

I was distracted from his speech when a couple of cars went sailing past me, heading fast toward the edge. Out of the corner of my optics I saw the yellow one spring forward, but he wasn't going to be fast enough. I gave a short cry and quickly sped over to grab them just before they flew off the edge. I could hear them screaming from inside their cars as I struggled to hold them delicately. I was still getting used to my new size and strength… understandably.

"Chill!" I suggested as I worked to carefully pull myself and them back up. "You'll only freak yourselves out more."

Hearing me, Soundwave turned around to inspect. I cried out when the gunshot hit Soundwave in the back, sending him spiraling off the bridge. Luckily, he transformed into a jet before he could hit the water.

"Release the hu…" I heard the blue and pink one start, but then stop. Paying no attention to her, I carefully set the two cars back on the road and gently touched my finger to their bumpers, encouraging them to go.

"Get out of here, okay?" I whispered to them. That they did.

The big green one spoke up next. "Hey, isn't that the femme we saw Starscream carry away in New York?"

I vaguely made out the shape of Starscream up on the bridge, reaching for something with the yellow bot and white and blue bot close after him. Soundwave was still hovering over the water, shooting at any bot in sight. I know it was a daring move, but I took that as my chance to get out of there. I transformed into my alt mode and raced as fast as I could off the bridge.

"Soundwave, go get Whitethorn!" I heard Starscream scream in fear. "Megatron will have our sparks if we lose her!"

I heard gunshots and some fearful screams as Soundwave flew after me. By the time he caught me, the Autobots were gone… with the relic. I didn't have to read minds or even see Soundwave's face to know that they were angry with me.

"What were you doing?" Starscream barked at me after he commed in for a space bridge.

I glowered at him. "What did it _look _like?"

Starscream sneered at me. I smiled politely back at him and obediently allowed Soundwave to pull me through the space bridge. I know what I did was reckless and stupid; I had to try it anyway. I never knew if I'd get that chance again.

"The relic?" Megatron queried nonchalantly once we made it through. He was clearly expecting it without a qualm. I winced and hid behind Soundwave, who shifted uncomfortably.

Starscream fidgeted nervously. "Lord Megatron, I regret to inform you that we were unable to take the relic from the Autobots."

An uneasy silence settled across the space. Megatron stared disbelievingly at Soundwave. "Soundwave… you failed to bring back the relic?"

I watched Soundwave's servos twitch ever so slightly before he nodded. More silence. I had a feeling that Soundwave had never failed anything before. For some reason it made me feel guilty. Starscream grinned, unabashedly enjoying this. That just made me madder. He shouldn't have people judging him for messing up over something I did. As I came up with horrible possibilities of what Megatron might do to him, I felt my spark thump in my chest erratically. My vision blurred and I was starting to my lose common sense.

"You have never failed me before," Megatron pointed out in slight discomfort. "Perhaps you need to be punished as a reminder—"

"No!" I blurted out, fear swamping me. I stumbled from behind him and tried to ignore how everyone was gawking at me. "It's my fault. I was being reckless, so he had to go and… save me. He was only doing what you told him to do last night. It's my fault you don't have the relic. Blame me."

Megatron's wide optics narrowed slightly. "Do you have a death wish, Whitethorn?"

I lowered my helm, sort of disgusted at myself. Apparently I do. I haven't exactly been in the right mindset since I woke up in my new metal body.

"Soundwave, is this true?" Megatron turned to Soundwave.

Starscream shot me a scathing glare while Soundwave's servos wrapped around my arm, pulling me a tiny bit closer. "Unfortunately," Starscream grumbled.

Primus must have been smiling down on us that day, because Soundwave was forgiven and Starscream was the one blamed for the failed mission. Megatron didn't even reprimand me for messing up the mission; he simply said I needed official training. Starscream didn't seem too happy with that. When Soundwave and I were dismissed, he hastily escorted me from that room and to another one. The room was bigger than the one I was assigned, with a larger berth and a few monitors on the walls. It had to be Soundwave's quarters. I walked over to the monitors, peering closer at them inquisitively. I've never been very good with computers, but it looks like data of some kind. It could be transmissions or something.

"Why did you protect me?" a hesitant voice asked.


	3. Chapter 3

CASSANDRA'S POV

I whirled around, expecting to find some stranger that'd barged into his quarters. However, only Soundwave stood there. I folded my arms across my chassis skeptically.

"Why did you protect me?" the voice repeated, sounding stronger and more determined this time. Yep, that voice came from Soundwave. It didn't sound like a recording either. Can he actually talk?! Has he been fooling me this whole time? That glitch!

Somehow I managed to keep a straight face and answer his question first. "Well, you've never messed up before. I didn't see why you had to start now—and all because of me. Besides, I was pretty sure Megatron would take it easy on me, since I'm supposed to be his bondmate and all," I let my optics fall to the floor. "I'm sorry if I got you into trouble."

He was silent for a few moments, and I was too. Was I really sorry for almost getting a human-hating Decepticon into trouble? Surprisingly, yes.

"Why did you run away?" was his second question.

"You've already asked a question, bucko. Now it's my turn," I lifted my chin and stared into his visor. Before I've only been able to see my own reflection, so at least now I know he has a voice, which means he must have a face of some kind as well. It makes me feel better talking to him like this.

Still, I really wish I could see his face. I wonder what color his optics are. I bet they're violet… I can't imagine him with red ones. All the Decepticons have either red or purple optics, while I seem to be the only one with green ones. It could be another clue to my true identity, but maybe not, since no one's commented on it yet.

"That's your real voice, isn't it? Not just a recording?" I tilted my helm at his nod. I liked his voice, a lot. He should use it more. "Then why haven't you used it until now?"

"Words bring conflict and trouble," he said simply. "Words can be twisted, lied about, deceived. Facts are facts; there is no disputing them. My silence has been appreciated early on in Cybertron, even more during this war. Now… why did you run away?"

Wearily I turned away from him to sit down on the big berth. I tapped my digits against it, trying to find the right words. I was hoping to refrain from getting killed, but I knew I would end up blurting out the truth anyway. "I don't want to be Megatron's bondmate. I don't even know what a bondmate is! Furthermore, I have someone I really need to get back to. It's my sister, and she needs me. And… and what did the humans ever do to you? Why are you trying to take over this planet when it's obviously already occupied and thriving? Why don't you just go back to your own planet?!"

He stayed very still except for his tentacles, which sprung from his sides to wrap around me like metal anacondas. I refused to move a muscle as they curled around me, slowly lifting me up off the berth. My optics widened slightly as I considered his strength.

"I'm not scared of you," I ground out through my dentas. It was the truth. "Please put me down, Soundwave."

He wavered. His tentacles, feelers, whatever-he-called-them tightened around me for a few more seconds before they gradually lowered me back down to the berth. All but one retracted, and I swore the others _caressed _my chassis and legs before disappearing. I couldn't help but miss the loss of contact. The last feeler spanned out over my fresh, bright insignia, lightly tracing the lines as Soundwave himself moved closer. He stopped only when his knees brushed the edge of the berth.

"You are a Decepticon, Lord Megatron's future bondmate. Your life, your future and your loyalty belongs to him now," he stated firmly. His feeler retracted then, but the contact was quickly replaced by Soundwave's own servo. Arguably even better than the feelers. I instinctively leaned into the touch, not quite realizing what I was doing.

"Don't you miss Cybertron, Whitethorn?" he asked softly, in a voice much different than the strict, serious one I'd heard. It was soothing and… nice.

I decided to speak honestly for once. "The only planet I remember is Earth."

"You don't remember anything at all about Cybertron?" Soundwave sounded astounded, profoundly sympathetic. "Let me… let me show you."

I peered up at him dubiously. "How?"

Instead of telling me how, he showed me. A fuzzy image appeared on his visor, which soon cleared out till it was crystal-clear. A picture sure is worth a thousand words. I watched with fascination as gorgeous images of a metal planet clicked by as if on a slideshow, giving me a front row view of the planet known as Cybertron. It didn't look like anything I've ever seen before. I wanted to describe it as a natural, unhindered beauty, yet the natural beauty of Earth could not be compared with the terrestrial environment of Cybertron. I couldn't wrap my processor around it, but something about the flawless angles of the metal and steel, and the colors and the light reflecting off into space, made it look absolutely striking. It really was beautiful, and once it was over, I wished there was more.

"It's beautiful," I breathed with a small smile that melted into a perplexed frown. "So why are you here when you could be there? I suppose I can try to understand the need for global conquest, but it doesn't make any sense when you could simply live in a planet like that."

His left servo fisted and his frame visibly quivered. "Cybertron was destroyed. We have not abandoned it completely, however. We wish to bring the planet back to its former glory, with Megatron as its leader."

"Okay, so you want to get your planet back. Why do you have to have Earth and be against humans in the process?"

He threw his arms up in obvious frustration. "Humans are weak and inferior in every way. They are foul. We are the superior race, and we should be able to take what we need from them, when we need it. We have the power and the right to take this planet as our own."

I bit down on my glossa, anger swelling inside me. If I said what I wanted to say right now, he'd kill me… and I knew he easily could. He was so much stronger than I was, just like all the others were. And I had to stay alive, so I could find Ellie. Ha, if only Soundwave knew what I really was. If only Megatron knew!

I steeled my optics. "When are you going to teach me how to fight?"

After giving me some energon from his own private collection, he proceeded to go through with my request. He led me down through halls to a large room already filled nicely with mechs. Many of them stopped to stare as Soundwave coolly took me to a secluded corner. Fortuitously, the minute Soundwave turned to face them; they hastily went back to what they were doing. I'm happy to know I'm not the only one intimidated by the mech. I wasn't afraid of him, per se, but to have him specifically fight against me was… well. To say I was nervous about fighting him was an understatement. Not only was he big and physically strong, but he had tentacles!

Soundwave showed me how to deploy my guns, and even though I wasn't the best shot, he helped me become a better one. He showed me how to hold my own in close combat as well. I was knocked on my aft several times, as was expected, but Soundwave was a patient teacher. He helped me up each time and never once derided me about it. This was my first real fighting session, and I think he could see that. I have shot with a pistol and a rifle several times, but this was so much different. I figured it would take me a good while before I got the full hang of it. And I think I'll need to know how to hold my own, especially if I'm going to get out of here alive and or survive for the time being. Those Autobots are probably going to want to offline me just because of my insignia—which I guess is fair. I'd want to do the same. Why couldn't an Autobot have found me instead of Starscream?

I was drained and it was late by the time we finished, so Soundwave agreed that I could retire to my quarters. He followed after me soundlessly as I sat down, exhausted, on the berth.

"Don't you need to recharge too?" I prompted him. "I bet you're tired. I'll be fine, Soundwave, really. You should go back to your quarters and rest for a while."

"I am not leaving you alone," Soundwave insisted. "There is a ninety-two percent chance that you will try to escape again."

I winced… guilty as charged. "Well, that's to be expected, isn't it? But unfortunately, we're in the air right now so I don't think that would go too well. Plus, I'm too tired to do much of anything," I eyed the way his body sagged and leaned to one side. "You really do need some recharge, Soundwave. You didn't get any last night, and if my assumptions are correct, you don't get much on normal nights either. I bet you're the type to work until you pass out."

He steadied himself by gripping the sides of the berth. "I am perfectly stable," he swore unconvincingly.

My helm fell. I wished I could just lie back and get some shuteye, but I can't do that until I know that Soundwave's taken care of. "If you're so set on making sure I stay in this room, how about we do this. First of all, I promise you I will make no attempt to leave this room. Secondly, why don't you recharge in front of the door? I'm not strong enough to move you from it, and even if I tried, you'd be certain to wake up and catch me before I could escape. Sound logical to you?"

He appeared taken aback by the way he retreated a few steps. His shadow danced along the dark wall until he stilled against it. "There is no chance for your escape if we progress with those actions."

"Isn't that the point?" I snapped. I didn't mean to snap, but I always get a bit grumpy when I'm tired.

He nodded deliberately. "Yes, it is. Thank you."

Even though he didn't move from his spot as I slipped into a recharge cycle, I knew he had followed my advice when morning came around. I rolled over on the small berth and onlined my optics to find him knocked out with his back to the door. His helm was tilted down and to the side, his visor dark and his systems humming quietly and peacefully, proving just how tired he really was. For a while I simply lied there watching him, allowing my optics to trail the angles of his body. In the low light of the room I could see a purple and another dark gray color that made up his body. He had long legs, broad shoulders and a slender waist. Up until now I hadn't even considered these giant robots to be physically appealing. Soundwave, though… I found myself believing that he was physically appealing.

I narrowed my optics at that thought. What am I thinking? He's a bot! I am too, for the time being, but it's different. I may _look _like a bot, but I'm actually flesh and bone. He's a Decepticon who wants to exterminate humans and either take possession of Earth or destroy it altogether. Also, he's unerringly loyal to the evil, twisted warlord himself: Megatron. Still… I can't help but wonder if I'm physically attractive too. I'm sure I have to be somewhat attractive for Megatron to want me as his bond mate, but what does Soundwave think?

When Soundwave tilted his helm to one side, I just about screamed. Evil visor! How am I supposed to know if he's awake or asleep with that slagging thing on?

I remained silent and very still, unsure of what to say or do since I was caught… well… red-handed. Did he see the way I looked at him? Hopefully not. I'm just glad that bots can't blush, because if they could, I swear to Primus my face would look like a tomato threw up on it. Oh, tomatoes! I miss human food so much. I would do _anything _for a burger right about now.

I was too busy fantasizing about burgers to notice that Soundwave had pushed himself up from the floor and was heading my way. Soundwave knelt down, and I was only alerted from my reverie when I caught the sight of my reflection in his shiny visor.

I smiled weakly. "Good morning. I bet you're glad I proposed your recharge, huh?"

He nodded his helm in agreement. "Thank you. I feel more awake and able than I did yesterday. Will you be ready for your training?"

I nodded. Yeah, I'm ready.

This time that we trained, we had an audience. There was Megatron, Knockout and Starscream—among others. I did my best while fighting Soundwave, and though I knew that he greatly held himself back, I felt that I was improving. I was pushed to do more and to try harder by a shouting Megatron… a command I would be suicidal to ignore. I earnestly fought against him until my cooling fans were roaring like a pack of lions and my knees were shaking. We were only allowed to stop when Megatron told us too, and by then, I felt half-dead. The fact that even Soundwave looked tired told me that my physical exhaustion was justified. I wobbled out of the training room with the help of Soundwave, who scooped me up into his arms the moment we were out of sight. Even though I felt fairly embarrassed, my legs were thankful for it. They weren't going to be able to hold up my weight for much longer.

SOUNDWAVE'S POV

Soundwave carried his precious cargo with purpose down the halls of the Nemesis, only stopping when they reached her quarters. He deposited her carefully on her berth, stepped back, and watched worriedly as she stretched out her limbs with quiet groans. Megatron pushed her too far today. She had only just begun training; she wasn't ready for something as strenuous as that! If he felt the effects of their actions, he could only imagine how his sparkmate felt.

"Are you injured?" Soundwave inquired in concern.

His sparkmate peered up at him with tired but vividly beautiful green optics. A small smile graced her mouth, and Soundwave found himself unconsciously doing the same. "I'm fine, Soundwave. Just a little tired. I think you were going way too easy on me, though. How am I going to learn how to fight if you hold back all the time?"

"You're not ready for me to engage you. If I did, I would kill you."

Her helm lowered, likely seeing the truth in his statement.

Soundwave shifted his weight then, uncomfortable about what he was going to have to ask her to do. Before they left the training room, Lord Megatron had ordered him to have her washed properly. In reality, washing can sometimes get intimate—especially between mates—so it makes sense why he would choose him as her guardian to do these things. Lord Megatron would never suspect his most loyal officer to make a move on his future bondmate. And although Soundwave would never dare, he also knew for a fact that his Lord wouldn't have even dreamed about giving him this position if he had any clue she was his sparkmate. It's one of the reasons why he hasn't told him… or his spark mate, who seems to also be in the dark. This is the only way he can be close to her, if only for a short while. He's been waiting for his sparkmate for far too long to have it end this way.

When he tried to wash her yesterday, she had reacted in fear and reluctance, begging him to let her do it on her own. He had no choice but to let her do so. However, if she was to be properly cleaned, she would have to reach places that are physically impossible to reach on her own. It's why there's a large room of wash racks up deck, for bots to help each other out. His spark mate didn't quite seem to grasp the idea.

"Megatron requested you to be washed before he sees you again," Soundwave informed her.

She pushed herself off the berth so she stood on shaky legs. Soundwave automatically reached over to help her. She quickly swatted him away. "I told you that I'm fine. I'll go wash myself now."

"You cannot do it properly on your own," Soundwave insisted, nearly repeating himself from yesterday. "Lots of bots help each other, and as your guardian I have orders—"

"If you have to, I guess," she unwillingly relented, stepping into the dim washroom. He realized in mild amusement that that's probably the first time anyone's ever interrupted him. Her optics were lowered, her servos tapping against her sides and her pedes shifting constantly as Soundwave turned on the water and reached for a rag.

"Is something wrong?" he wondered as he rubbed the rag along her white shoulder plating. She appeared especially nervous and jumpy.

She glanced up at his face mask before glancing down again. "It's just strange being washed by someone. The last time someone bathed me was back when I was a little kid."

There she goes with the human terminology. He listened on curiously as she talked about her relations with her father. Apparently, he'd been distant with her up until the day he offlined. He could relate with his own creator, who was a cold, sparkless bot that abandoned him soon after he was born and gave him to a future warlord. She then spoke of her mother and her stepfather, none of whom were much better. The only good that came of it seemed to be her sister, whom she was sorely missing. Since she never mentioned her being still alive or on Earth, Soundwave calculated that she must have been destroyed with the others on Cybertron. He did wonder how she could remember her family and yet not the planet she lived on, but Soundwave refrained from that question. She was still trying to sort through her memories; he hoped that she was slowly recovering them.

They were talking quietly when Soundwave moved the rag to her sides. His digits accidentally slipped from the rag and grazed some of the sensitive wiring underneath her plating. It was a sensitive area, so he was expecting her to cringe or pull away or something. What he didn't expect was a sound to come out of her that sounded suspiciously like a giggle.

And then she pushed his servo away, a wide smile on her faceplates. "Don't touch there! I'm ticklish on my sides."

Of course, that only encouraged him to do it again. Her reaction to his prodding was unexpected and amusing in a very entertaining way. The sound of her laugh was pleasing to his audios and he felt proud and happy to be the cause of her joy.

"Soundwave! S-stop it!" she practically pleaded as she pushed weakly at his servos. He was relentless, however, and soon she was reduced to a giggling heap of white and silver curled up on the floor with her fans cycling hard.

Suddenly, she hid her helm in her arms and whimpered. Soundwave stopped straightaway, his spark thundering and his entire frame shaking from the thought that he may have hurt her.

Worriedly he knelt down to her level. "A-are you all right?"

She lifted her helm and he was surprised to find that she was smiling. Then, before he even knew what hit him, his sparkmate leapt forward and attacked him. A bot of her size and strength should never have been able to take Soundwave by surprise and knock him dumbfounded on his back, yet that's exactly what went down.

"Revenge," she explained simply as she crawled up on top of him. She wasn't very heavy, and it wasn't at all unpleasant having her on top of him, but he quickly realized that the situation was getting out of control. He only meant to get to know her a little, to leaven some of the ache in his spark. He hoped that maybe doing that could get her out of his processor, so he could easily hand her over to Lord Megatron… as was expected of him. He never anticipated to feel so interested and concerned about his sparkmate, and after only a short while. The thought of seeing her with Lord Megatron caused rage and thoughts treachery to swell up inside him. No! He could never betray Lord Mega—

Her cool, innocent servos crept up his already heated chassis, sending him ramming hard into the present. Soundwave struggled to remain still and silent—ironic—as her hands ghosted up his upper torso in an attempt to find the ticklish areas. Did he even have a ticklish spot?

His sparkmate appeared set and determined as her nimble digits explored a few chosen places. She mumbled under her breath about it being impossible for him not to be ticklish, not quite realizing the affect her touches had on him. She couldn't have known what she was doing to him. With the teasing brush of her digits, the sound of her voice, their slippery bodies and their close proximity—it was all Soundwave could do not to flip her over and make her his then and there. That possessive thought frightened him to the pits. He would not let this femme destroy him, sparkmate or not. When she explored his abdominal plating and wires, his helm tilted back and a needy groan escaped his mouth that made him fully understand the danger of what was happening here.

Faster than lightning, his tentacles whipped out from inside him and lifted her about two feet from his body. He cycled in air heavily, wishing he could take off his mask to do it more easily, and unsteadily rose to his pedes. He carefully lowered his squirming sparkmate to the ground, wincing when he found an angry, hurt expression on her faceplates.

"W-what was that all about? Don't like being t-tickled that much, huh?" she demanded hesitantly.

He had to get out of the heat and away from the femme before he did something dishonorable and ultimately unthinkable. So, without a word, he turned and hastily left the washroom. According to statistics, it was the best option.

Soundwave could tell that something was wrong after the incident. When she emerged from the wash racks, she was quiet, reserved and rather somber. It made his spark ache to see her like that, but it hurt him even more to know that he couldn't do anything about it. He had to… step away from her. He shouldn't have let her known he could talk in the first place; she had the notion that he was incapable, and it would've been so much better if he made sure it stayed that way. Now, this whole thing might be harder to deal with than if he completely  
ignored her presence in the first place. At least he had the common sense to stop it here, before it got any worse.

They headed down the hall to the control room in an uneasy silence. Once they reached it, Soundwave went straight for the monitors, while his sparkmate sat silently on a crate. Megatron and Starscream were hovering over screens on the opposite side of the room, arguing over the best way to approach the next energon raid. Soundwave had a bit of trouble focusing on his work, as his sparkmate was approached by the admittedly most promiscuous bot on the ship, but eventually his work was able to regain his full attention when Megatron shooed Knockout away for an energon raid.

Within time, all left except for her and Soundwave. The others had taken some of the eradicons and vehicons for a hopeful energon raid that turned south when the Autobots turned up. He had no doubt in his leader's efforts would be in vain. Soundwave was working on the Nemesis diligently as usual—with his tentacles all grappled into the control pad for informational and convenience purposes—when he felt something familiar brush against his spark. It was his symbiote, Laserbeak, returning from aerial duty. Excitement coursed through him at the thought of reuniting with his symbiote. Of course, he was also anticipating the data samples that he should be carrying with him. Starscream may have failed to retrieve the relic, but that doesn't mean there still isn't a chance that the relic may still be out there, or at least a part of it. From what Starscream had described the relic as, it contained a liquid substance that had leaked. He suspected there would be enough remnants left over for Laserbeak to obtain a sample from, and he couldn't wait to see him. Laserbeak would love his sparkmate, he was sure of it. He rushed to the center of the room, visor up and optics straining to catch the first glimpse. What came out of the tunnel was… unexpected.

Instead of Laserbeak emerging from the tunnel, it was a feathered organic creature. After running a quick scan on it, he came up with: _falcon_. He observed suspiciously as the falcon soared across the room once time before landing elegantly on the outstretched arm he had forgotten to put down. Horrified, he moved to shake it off, which made the falcon squawk, fly up into the air, and drop the vial of blue liquid unceremoniously on the top of his helm. The vial cracked on contact.

"Hey," his sparkmate called out as she hurried towards him. "What's that bird's problem? And, come to think of it… that looks kind of like that blue goo I remember from New York…"

Soundwave lifted a servo to take a swab of the blue goo that was now running freely over his visor. It even managed to worm its way through the seams of his facemask and to his actual faceplates. He recoiled at the taste of it and was just about to lift his servos to remove the obscene substance, when he experienced a pain like no other for a mere instant before his systems shut down completely.


	4. Chapter 4

CASSANDRA'S POV

"Soundwave!" I cried out as he crumpled to the floor. It was horrifying: seeing such a big, strong mech collapse like that. The black falcon circling the air above was shrieking right along with me, clearly distressed.

I rushed over to him and shook him multiple times, calling out his name repeatedly. I probably should've been spending that time celebrating and using the space bridge to escape, but my spark had other plans. It held me there, knelt beside him and waiting desperately for him to move again. I didn't _understand _what it was with him. I mean… he was a giant robot! More than that—he was an evil Decepticon. Why do I feel like I can trust him so easily and readily? Everyone else on this ship I've come to despise. Soundwave shouldn't be any slagging different. Why did I open myself up to him and tell him things that I've never been able to tell anyone… perhaps even my sister? Why do I care about him so much? He obviously doesn't care a bit about me; he made that all too clear in the wash racks. So why?!

That's when something quite strange occurred. There was a bright light and a flash, and suddenly Soundwave… wasn't exactly Soundwave anymore. I stared down, speechless, at a _human _man lying there on the metal floor. Three words: _hot as hell_. His hair was silky and black, falling just above his dark shades. His skin was nice and tan, and his physique was _amazing_. He wore a frayed black leather jacket with the collar up, worn-out distressed jeans, and combat boots. He appeared to be in his early twenties, maybe only a little older than me. I reached over and poked him, which he was unresponsive to. So, I guess the blue goo turns humans into bots and bots into humans? Or something like that.

I saw that the space bridge controls were left free and open. I jumped to my pedes as the falcon landed on Soundwave's chest, and rushed over to activate the bridge for New York City—my apartment, more specifically. And I'd have Soundwave with me. It's not like I can just leave him here. Who knows what Megatron would do to him if he found him like this? I had to get him out of here and I had to find my sister.

Once the space bridge was activated, I transformed into a human and ran over to drag Soundwave to the bridge. Surprisingly, he was lighter than I thought. _A lot _lighter.

I was about to cross through with him when I remembered that someone would need to deactivate the space bridge. I lifted my gaze to see the falcon perched there on the controls. Huh. It chirped at me, sending me a wordless bout of reassurance. Skeptical but left with no other choice, I dragged Soundwave with me on through the portal.

Never had I been so damn happy to see that little apartment. I dragged Soundwave over to our old but comfy couch, and proceeded to check the apartment for Ellie. I didn't even find her backpack. Maybe… maybe she didn't go back to the apartment. Maybe she went straight to the police. I dove for the phone and called the police, but they knew nothing about it. Luckily they must've heard the blatant desperation in my voice, because they promised to have a squad out looking for her ASAP. They said they'd keep me updated before ending the call.

I dropped the phone and bent down to wrap my arms around my waist. I was breathing heavy and seeing stars. I can't believe this is happening! I have no clue where Ellie is, or if she's even alive, and I have a knocked out, humanized Decepticon on my couch!

I marched back to Soundwave and lowered my head to his chest. I could feel the steady rise and fall of his breathing, and his heart was beating at a normal pace. Good. My fingers twitched with the desire to remove his shades, but I just couldn't. In a way, it was like his visor screen; if he didn't want me to see then I wouldn't. Besides, it's not like I could see his eyes with him asleep. And his eyes are what I wanted to see the most.

When Soundwave remained asleep for the next five minutes, I came to the conclusion that he would simply wake up when he wakes up. Knockout had said I was in stasis before I woke up, without help, so Soundwave should be able to do the same. Content with that declaration, I grabbed something in the kitchen to eat and drink before hopping in the shower. I wasn't all that dirty, but my human body felt peculiar to me for some reason and I was hoping that a bath and a change of clothes would help. Plus, I was planning on heading over to the police station later on today. I can't trust them alone to find Ellie and bring her home safe! The Big Apple is a _huge _place; she could be anywhere. I shivered at that mental image and leaned further into the warm water, closing my eyes with a heavy outtake of air. I'll find her.

After I'd changed comfortably into some jeans and a t-shirt, I sat back on the couch with Soundwave. He remained unresponsive, even when I ran my fingers through his soft hair. He even smelled great: clean and woodsy.

And then he started to wake up. First he mumbled something incoherent, moving slightly and making the springs beneath him squeak. I bit my lip, recognizing that he'd likely have a major freak-out moment when he wakes up and hurt himself in the process. In an effort to delay that, I crawled on top of him and sat myself firmly on his chest. I smiled sadly when I saw that my position now was the same one I had earlier in the wash racks… yet utterly different in the same.

I knew he was fully awake when he froze rod-straight. Even his breathing became minimal. I tucked my hair behind my ears, placed my hands on his shoulders, and smiled kindly. "Hey, Soundwave. It's me… Whitethorn."

His breathing returned, but at an odd, faulty pace. Well, at least he wasn't convulsing or anything. I got off of him to be at my knees at the side of the couch, waiting for him to say something.

"Wh-what's happening?!" he nearly pleaded with me as he looked over his new body and mine. I winced at how scared he sounded. "Where are we? This… this can't be…"

I was mutely glad that he believed this was me. Even more happy that he didn't try to kill me by now; after all, it's what you should expect from a Decepticon. "I can explain. It must be the blue goo… the relic. It changed me from a human to a bot and you from a bot to a human. Don't worry, though. I'm able to change back and forth between them, so you should be able to do the same."

He flinched and jerked away from me, trying to get as far away from me as the couch would allow. I dropped my gaze but didn't comment about it. I shouldn't have expected anything different.

"You… you can't be an organic. A _human_," he hissed that last word as though it was a curse. "You're lying to me."

That's what he's upset about?! Not the fact that he's a human right now? Why is he so focused on me? Why does he hate humans so much?

"I'm not lying!" I just about yelled at him as I launched to my feet. "This is my apartment! I work at a coffee shop down the street, I'm twenty-one years old, I have U.S. citizenship, and I have a sister! Scratch that, _had _a sister! I don't even know where she is, because of that _stupid_, fragging blue relic stuff that changed me into a giant, living robot and left her all alone in the biggest city in the United States! And now I don't know if I'll ever see her again, or if she's even alive!"

My anger was met with a stoic silence. I couldn't remember half the stuff I said… it came out too fast, all in a blurred rush. I'd been bottling up my emotions ever since I woke up as a bot, and now Soundwave had to pay for it. In reality, he probably didn't deserve it. He's just scared and frightened like I was.

I spun around and ran to my room, shutting and locking the door. I curled up into a ball on the other side, sobbing for the first time in years. When Ellie was born and Mom and my stepfather made it clear that they weren't fit for parenting, I had to take on that role. I had to grow up and be the adult whether I was ready for it or not, because she needed someone to be there for her. I had to be strong for both of us. I promised myself never to let Ellie see or hear me cry. I don't have to worry about that right now.

I didn't expect to hear a knock and a begging voice at my door. I thought that Soundwave would've left by now. He's a smart mech… he'd have found out how to change back into a bot and would be back on the Nemesis at this point. Yet, he wasn't. Instead, he was outside my door.

"Open up. Please? I'm sorry," his voice came through the door, sounding sincere. "I want to see you."

I sniffled and wiped my tears on the end of my shirt. "Why? I'm too foul, weak and inferior to grace your presence."

He was quiet for a little while. Then, "You are not foul, weak or inferior, and you never will be. No matter what... physical form… you may be in. Now open this door before I break it down."

I snorted. "You wouldn't."

Upon hearing loud thuds and the splintering of wood, I yelled for him to stop and threw open the door. I crossed my arms across my chest and glanced up at him through wet eyelashes. I could taste the salt from my tears on my tongue, and it wasn't too bad.

Soundwave hesitantly cupped my cheek in his hand, fingers grazing it curiously. Yep, human flesh is a lot different from the metal plating bots have. He brushed his thumb under my eye, collecting some of the salty river. "You're leaking?" he wondered in alarm.

I slipped from his grasp and shook my head amusedly. "No… it's called crying, silly. It's something humans do when they're emotionally charged—like if they're upset, really happy, or frustrated," I watched him tilt his head slightly. "I haven't properly introduced myself yet, have I? Well, nice to meet you, Soundwave. I'm Cassandra Barlow."

His shoulders relaxed and he gave me a slow smile. It was the first time I'd seen him wear a smile, and I thought it looked good on him. "Good to know I can call you by your true designation now. I wasn't about to call you Whitethorn."

I nodded in agreement. "I didn't like him naming me. It felt like he was trying to turn me into his pet or something."

"And I understand that you feigned memory loss and refused to give your designation from the fear of being discovered and destroyed?"

I blinked; stunned at the hasty revelation and that he was able to make it so quickly after being changed so drastically. I guess that's why he's the smart one. "That's right. How are you taking this so well?"

He shrugged honestly. "I'm not… not exactly. I've taught myself to mask my emotions over time. You say we can turn back?"

I wiped the remaining tears from my eyes and nodded. "Yep. Um… you're not going to take me back to the Nemesis now, are you?"

He hesitated and was quiet for a moment before answering, "No. I can't; with what's happened, I won't risk it."

I could tell that it was a disturbing subject for him to dwell on, so I painted on a smile, took his hand, and led him to the kitchen. I was about to introduce him to human food—which to me was _much _better than energon—and I was excited about it. I wanted to show Soundwave that humans had good qualities to them, a variety of yummy foods being only a small part of it. It hurt, but I knew that he was foremost a Decepticon and it would take some time to persuade him otherwise. In his eyes, Earth was just another small planet in the solar system to be held and crushed in Megatron's hands. When he looked at Earth and its inhabitants, all he saw weakness and inferiority. I wanted to change that.

* * *

SO, do you think I should continue on with the story or just give it up? If too many people are hating on it I'll probably just let this one slide. I do have another fic that's been fighting valiantly for my attention. Oh, and I'm totally open to suggestions! :)


	5. Chapter 5

Here's another chapter, then. It has more action than the others, I think. I'm going to stop writing for tonight... it's really late in the night where I am. Anyways, thank you to those who reviewed, and thanks for reading!

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ELLIE'S POV

Ellie sunk down in Bumblebee's backseat, her eyes zigzagging helplessly across the Nevada desert that flew by. What was she expecting? Her sister to turn up out of nowhere, to emerge from the dust? Ellie did in fact miss her sister… a lot. She's kind of like a mother figure to her; she's been the only stable figure in her life until now. Sure, it hurt that she didn't know where her sister was right now. But what hurt even more was that the Autobots and her new friends didn't believe that the white robot Starscream carried off into the sky truly was her sister. Only Raf and maybe Bumblebee had faith in her. The others just stared when she tried to make them understand, doubt reflecting in their eyes. Optimus Prime had taken her aside after they'd left New York to gently tell her that she was likely to never see the bot again. And they… they were okay with it. They said that there was nothing they could do. Besides, they didn't even know her. No, they didn't know her at all—not like Ellie did.

"Ellie, you okay?" Raf asked her while pushing his glasses up his thumb. When she gave no answer, he sent her a knowing look before returning to his handheld game. She liked Raf. He was smart and nice and made this whole thing a little bit easier for her. Plus, his mom had readily welcomed her into her home, after some persuasion by the Agent Fowler guy.

When they returned to the base, she definitely knew something big was going on. Ratchet and Optimus were discussing something near the monitor, with Smokescreen and Agent Fowler looking terrified beside it, when Bumblebee, Arcee, and Bulkhead arrived. I quickly climbed out with Raf and Bumblebee and the others immediately transformed, rushing forward to see what the fuss was about.

"Finally some action," Miko rubbed her hands together with a sly grin. Jack looked worried, Raf appeared inquisitive, and Ellie was just plain confused.

The three of them snuck closer to hear Optimus speak to the others.

"We've picked up on an abnormally high energy reading coming from Megatron's warship," he begun while indicating to the screen. "You see that it's being picked up over the city of New York. If he's constructing a weapon…"

"That city will be in the direct line of fire!" Ratchet finished heatedly.

"I expect you to figure out what's going on up there and fast," Agent Fowler barked at them. "New York is the most populated city in the United States. If you don't get your team up there within the next twelve hours, the military will."

Optimus looked worried, to say in the least. "No, we can't risk any human casualties. I'll have my team up there as soon as possible. However… Agent Fowler, I must warn you that we may not be able to keep our presence to the humans unknown."

"I don't care at this point!" he practically yelled. "The news crews are already flocking to the giant alien ship, and the police and the military are starting to have a hard time keeping them away. This ship is a major threat, Optimus Prime, and I want you and your team's butts out there dissolving it," and with that, he marched away.

"Wow," Ellie whispered as she watched his figure disappear.

"Looks like we're heading back to New York," Smokescreen realized.

"Ooh, can I come?" Miko begged Bulkhead, who winced.

Ratchet sent her a stern look. "No children on the mission! They'll stay with me."

Everyone groaned. Looks like they wouldn't be able to experience the action today. At least they could turn on the TV and watch it there.

CASSANDRA'S POV

"Soundwave?" I giggled. "What did you _do_?"

"Don't move!" he warned me, visibly panicked. He was standing in the middle of my kitchen, surrounded by a chaotic jumble of sugary, sticky stuff. I saw maple syrup, M&M's, whip cream, and cereal—all coating the floor, as well as his self. Huh. So this is what happens when you leave a humanized bot in your kitchen for less than five minutes.

"What happened?"

He raked a hand through his hair, looking incredibly guilty. "Well… uh… I don't exactly know. But I do know one thing," he wiped whip cream off with his finger and licked it clean. "This stuff is amazing."

I smirked knowingly and scanned the scene before me, trying to figure out a way for him to get out unscathed. It wasn't looking promising. I sighed and started toward him slowly, but the slippery floor didn't help my efforts at all. I quickly found myself slipping and falling backwards. Soundwave jumped forward and caught me before I fell, but he ended up slipping too. I shrieked and clung to him like a monkey as we sailed into the living room, rolling on the carpet. Soon we both ended up wide-eyed on our backs.

"No more sugar for you today," I mumbled under my breath. He agreed with me.

Hearing scratching at the window, I pushed myself up to my elbows and peered over in that direction. It was the falcon! The bird was perched on the awning outside, continually thumping against the glass and looking inside hopefully. I glanced over at Soundwave, but he was already on his feet.

"It's Laserbeak," he said, dumbfounded as he opened the window. The bird happily flew in and perched on his shoulder. It leaned over to peck at an M&M. "She must have had a dose as well."

"Laserbeak?" I touched a feather experimentally. I smiled as the bird leaned into my touch. I never knew birds were this affectionate.

"My loyal symbiote," he explained with a hint of pride to his tone. "My spark split to create her. In this way, I'll always know where she is and be able to contact her whenever I wish."

"So is she basically you?"

He shook his head and the bird squawked. "She has a mind of her own. She's intelligent, too."

Out of the corner of my eye I saw something strange and turned to face it. "What the hell is that?"

Soundwave inhaled sharply. "_That _is the Nemesis. I hadn't realized where we were… let alone that we would be here of all places…"

"What're you talking about?"

He pulled me to the door, but I wrenched out of his grip before he could take me any further. "Alright. Lord Megatron has been working on a super weapon with the capability to wipe out wide masses of organic material. It's a proactive step in his plan of conquering Earth once and for all. He reasoned that the best place to start would be the most populated city in the United States: New York City. If that works well… he planned to take it to London, next to Shanghai, then—"

"Woe. Why didn't you tell me any of this before?" I was majorly freaking out. When he didn't come up with a good enough answer in time, I grabbed his arm and dragged him out the door.

The city streets were crowded with people rushing about as usual, but there was a different kind of chaotic feel this time. News crews scattered around the area, cameras probed the skies, and the police and even the military were keeping the public from getting too close to the warship. This was clear human endangerment, caused by the Decepticons. I didn't see why the Autobots _weren't _here yet. Oh Ellie, where _are _you?

We wove through the masses as we raced down the crowded streets. People didn't even care to notice what we were covered in; they were too busy freaking out or ogling the thing in the sky. I was headed to one of the many skyscrapers in the city, this one in particular because it just barely reached the tip of the Nemesis. I _had _to get on that ship, and I had to destroy the weapon. Since Soundwave was obviously as loyal a Decepticon as a bot could get, I didn't dream of asking him to help me. So imagine my surprise when he caught me running down the street and pulled me to the side to tell me he was going to do just that. He was going to help me destroy the super weapon—but of course, as he reminded me, we needed a plan.

"Why would you help me? Help _us_?" I felt the need to ask, waving out to the people rushing by. I know: it was stupid of me to insist on something that he could easily change his mind about, but the question was there.

"I'm part human now," he indicated, sweeping a hand over himself. "And so are you. In this new form, and with you, I realized that I hold no ties to… to Megatron. I've personally always found the human race fascinating. They have made more advances to their race and culture than the Cybertronians have in over millennia. They have their faults, but we do as well. I believe they have more than earned the right to keep their planet."

I couldn't help it. I leapt forward and hugged him tight, overjoyed at this. However, another questioned popped into my brain. "If you've always thought this way and believed in this kind of thing, why didn't you ever leave the Decepticons?"

He pulled away and seemed to take a sudden interest in his boots. "Remember when I told you about how my creator gave me away? My creator gave me to Megatron. I was trained ever since the beginning… to be the perfect servant to him. It was his idea for the mask, and for me to rarely speak, though for a while I never disagreed with him. I was able to display more information that way. I was taught never to speak my mind; it was unnecessary for me to do so. And I could never leave him or the cause, because not only was there no other place for me to go to, but Megatron would have never allowed it. He saved me. He was and forever would be my savior."

My heart broke at the thought of him being raised by _Megatron_. He has to be the worst dad in the slagging universe! And to think I was feeling all sorry for myself having to put up with my parents? Having the evil warlord himself as a parental guardian would doubtlessly drive a person to the brink of insanity. Example A: Soundwave.

Soundwave and I were headed back in the direction of the skyscraper when a familiar red and blue semi roared by. Only when I caught sight of the cute yellow and black Urbana 500 did I recognize who they were. The Autobots! They were actually here! Ugh, thank God. I was consciously lying to myself when I said I could destroy the super weapon on my own. As if!

"Look, there are the Autobots. We have to help them and tell them what's going on!" I reached over to grab him but… he'd disappeared. I had a sinking feeling to look up, and when I did, I cussed out loud. There he was, up in the sky, flying tothe warship, without me and without a plan! Isn't he the one who said we needed one? He's going to get himself killed!

I groaned before transforming into my alt mode and racing after the Autobots. Well, at least I didn't feel dizzy this time. My new tires screeched against the asphalt as I thundered after them. Oh yeah, I'm really loving my twelve cylinder engine right now.

"Hey!" I called out to them when I got close enough. "I know what's going on in that warship! I can help you. I certainly can't destroy the thing on my own."

"It's a Decepticon. We can't trust her," the big green bot reasoned. My engine growled in retaliation.

I pulled up beside the large blue and red semi; feeling quite pleased with myself, as no one had tried to kill me yet. Success.

"Decepticon or not, it would be wise to hear her out," the semi declared in a voice that rang a bell. I remember… he's that big, tall one that was talking to Soundwave. I think he's their leader.

The motorcycle pulled up beside me. "She saved the humans from falling off the bridge and distracted Soundwave from retrieving the relic. I'm definitely not saying she should be completely trusted, but Optimus is right."

The Autobots veered left down into a wide, empty alley, and I followed them. The dank darkness reminded me eerily of the night of my incident, and I shuddered before transforming with the rest of them.

"You better hurry on with it or we're leaving; we know a distraction when we see one," the motorcycle femme warned me.

I stared down at my pedes and nodded. "Okay, so I know that the Nemesis is housing a type of super weapon. The weapon is supposed to destroy all organic material within range… including humans, obviously. Megatron is testing the weapon out on New York, and then London, and Shang Hai, and so on," I glanced up to where Soundwave was attacking the thing attacked to the bottom of the ship. I pointed to it. "That's it."

"Why would Soundwave be attacking the weapon?" someone asked, but I didn't look to see who it was. Once I saw Megatron's jet fly off of the ship and towards Soundwave, I was off.

I raced to the tower with the Autobots in hot pursuit. I braked hard before I went crashing through the narrow glass doors. I doubted even my relatively small bot form would fit through, so I quickly changed back into a human and ran inside. I was able to take an elevator for half the way up, but I realized it was too slow and decided to switch strategies. The stairs it was.

Now, I don't exercise or run at all in my free time, but I was speeding up those steps like an Olympic athlete on steroids. I'm pretty sure I almost fell flat on my face more than once, and it was by some kind of God-given miracle that I made it to the roof of the building unscathed. And… oh was it high up in the air. I've never been especially afraid of heights before, but standing on that roof made me rethink it. I carefully inched myself to the edge of the building, making sure to keep my gaze leveled in front of me at the warship. My now, strangely white-colored hair whipped out like snakes around me as I blindly grappled for my footing. I don't think I'd ever been this brave or stupid in my life.

Megatron and Soundwave were battling fiercely in the sky, leaving the super weapon unguarded but only slightly harmed. I could see the metal flaking off of it into the city below, and gray smoke and static surging from its panels. I didn't dare to look down, but I didn't have to, to know that the Autobots were still trying to make their way up. There was no time to waste—no time to wait for the real heroes. I guess I would just have to do for now. I transformed and gritted my dentas hard. I'd have to jump. Why couldn't I have had a jet as my alt mode?

I don't think Soundwave or Megatron even saw me, not until I leapt off the roof of the building screaming and barely managed to grab onto one of the many jutting panels on the ship. Then they definitely saw me. Megatron transformed and rested on a wing of his ship, roaring in outrage. Soundwave joined him there, fighting against him even harder than before—if that was possible. As I struggled to regain my footing without passing out I noticed the Autobots driving up onto the roof. If only they arrived _before _I jumped.

However, since I was already there, I cautiously slid down from one jutting panel to the next. I was slowly and carefully making my way to the super weapon. It turned out to be a heck of a lot more difficult than it already was. Not only Megatron was trying to stop me, Soundwave and the Autobots—with the smaller, more agile ones slowly climbing aboard—but he got the eradicons to come out and play as well. Even Starscream decided to join the party.

"It's a pleasure to see you again, Whitethorn," Starscream snickered as he landed square in front of me. "What brings your back to the Nemesis, hmm?"

I lifted my gun to shoot him in the spark but he easily sidestepped the blow. I totally wish I had more combat training. I am so dead.

"It's a shame I have to offline those pretty optics of yours," he advanced toward me just as I was losing my footing.

A miracle came in the colors black and yellow. The bot sprang out of nowhere, landing a serious blow on Starscream, sending him flying off the side of the ship. It was the Urbana 500 Autobot. I pulled myself back up to stand and thanked him gratefully. He gave me back a series of beeps of whistles that I was stunned to find myself understanding.

"Yeah, the super weapon's over there," I nodded to the glowing object a short distance from us. "Soundwave tried to destroy it multiple times with gunfire but it wouldn't work. I'm thinking a powerful; close-range shot might do the trick. We have to get to it quick."

The bot whirred and whistled in agreement, settling that he'd cover my back while I went for it. I wasn't nearly as agile and nimble as he was, but I effectively got down toward it with the yellow and black bot covering my back. He was admittedly a very skilled fighter, making me believe that small bots actually could make it combat-wise. After this is over I'll train harder to be a better fighter.

With the help of the Autobots, I found myself perched above the glowing weapon, ready to pull the trigger. And I almost did, until I saw something that made my spark scream. Megatron, surrounded by his eradicons, was holding a limp Soundwave by one servo. Is he…? _No_.

"Do it, now!" Optimus Prime himself called out to me over the wind. That snapped me back to the present. Just as Megatron carelessly hurled Soundwave at Starscream and ran at me, I let out a scream before plunging my gun deep down into the weapon and blowing it to pieces. It quite literally exploded, the glowing fragments of the weapon filling and falling in the air like glitter.

The blue and white one caught me before I fell down into the emptiness I had created. In that moment, all I could see was Starscream dragging a broken Soundwave into the Nemesis._ No_. No, no, no…


	6. Chapter 6

CASSANDRA'S POV

I scrambled up limply onto the side panel, my spark pounding. I couldn't see or understand anything that the bots around me were doing or saying; my spark and processor refused to stray its focus from one mech in particular. I vaguely could see Megatron flying towards me, and if I had time to react I didn't use it. Before I could understand what was happening, he plucked me from the panel and into his grasp. I was gazing down at the city below when my optics dimmed, leaving me in darkness and numb to everything around me. For a long while, there was nothing.

"Wakey, wakey," a voice woke me from my stupor. Cracking open an optic and seeing a flash of shiny red, I groaned. He scoffed. "Well, nice to see you again too."

I pushed myself up on the med birth and scanned the room until I found Soundwave. He was lying there, clearly offlined or in stasis, and he looked severely damaged. We were both cuffed to the births, keeping us from getting away. I offlined my optics, feeling sick all of a sudden.

"Don't worry, he's still functioning," Knockout cooed regretfully. "A shame Megatron left him online."

I glared up at him. "So why are we still online?"

He smirked. "Soundwave is the best at communications and technical. He'll likely have him explain the reason for his disloyalty and then he'll get right back to work. You, on the other hand, are a much different story."

I frowned in confusion. "He's not going to still take me as his bondmate, right? I mean… he said he wanted someone loyal to mate with, and I'm obviously not the femme for the job anymore."

He chuckled cynically. "Oh, how blissfully naïve the young ones are. Isn't it apparent, Whitethorn? You can still supply him with an heir, and I suppose you'd do fine with warming his birth. Chains don't restrict too much movement, I don't think."

When I figured out what he meant, my optics widened and I started struggling even harder to get free than before. He laughed. I tried using the gun attached to my arm, but quickly found that he had disengaged it. Of course he had.

I desperately peered up at the red mech. "Come on, Knockout, you have to help us out. That's what friends do for each other, right?"

"Friend? _Friend_? You think I'm your friend?" Knockout laughed even harder. My faceplates burned. "What do I look like: a filthy, sappy Autobot? Even if was your 'friend', there'd be no way I'd ever risk my spark for you. You've got a rude awakening coming to you."

I knew that Soundwave was awake when I heard him struggling in his cuffs as well. I flexed my servos and pedes in the tight bindings and an idea suddenly occurred to me. I glanced over at Soundwave, and I knew he had the same one by the way he stopped moving completely. He nodded to me, signaling for me to do it.

We morphed into humans at the same time, easily sliding free of our restraints. I jumped off the birth and transformed back into a bot, but Soundwave beat me to it and within seconds had a frazzled-looking Knockout shoved against the wall. Even damaged and wounded, he was stronger than Knockout. Knockout tried to let out a call for help, but Soundwave had him knocked out—irony—before he could.

"You killed him?!" I exclaimed, staring down at Knockout in shock. "Was that really necessary?"

"I didn't _kill _him; I bought us some time. Your welcome. Now follow me and try to keep quiet."

I rolled my optics. Look who's talking. "Yes, sir."

Soundwave and I traveled through the corridors remarkably unseen by the others. Once we reached the exit, he opened the door wide and transformed into a jet. Hearing voices coming from down the hall, I quickly morphed into a human and jumped into the open cockpit. The top came down over me, sealing me in tight and I barely had enough time to strap into the small space before we were off. And when I said we were off, I meant it. Soundwave _zoomed _through that sky, flying through the clouds at dizzying heights and speeds while I screamed the whole way. He attempted to calm me down with his voice through the speakers on the inside, but I wasn't capable of that until he slowed his jet down.

I warily released my viselike grip on the metal on either side of me. I gulped down the bile. "If I throw up inside you… it's all your fault," I paused thoughtfully. "Wow that sounded weird."

"I am sorry," he apologized smoothly through the speakers. "By the way you jumped on the Nemesis and crawled all over it I had made the assumption you weren't afraid of heights."

I snorted and turned my head to gaze out the window. It was pretty from up here; looking down I could see miles and miles of untainted silver mountains and jade forests. "I'm not too afraid of heights, but that's not the point. I'm not a fan at all of rollercoasters, and what you just took me on was probably the scariest coaster I've ever been on."

"What is a rollercoaster?"

Poor, ignorant bot. I sympathetically patted the part of his dash that didn't contain controls, but I noticed the deep scratches along it and remembered something important. "Soundwave, you're really hurt. You need to land right now so I can take you to a hospital. Well… if there's even one nearby."

"I'm perfectly fine. Are you all right?"

I lifted an eyebrow. "I'm good. I didn't fight Megatron, Starscream and a dozen other eradicons like you did. At least land so I can take a look at you. Please?"

Mumbling something incoherent under his breath, he gradually lowered his altitude. Victory.

I hopped out of his jet once we landed and waited patiently as Soundwave went from a jet to a human. My jaw dropped from the ghastly sight of all the crimson blood that was staining his tanned skin. He obediently sat down on a moss-covered rock near the river we landed beside and clasped his hands together. I found it surprising and even slightly annoying that almost everywhere on him was injured or damaged in some way—except for his visor, or shades. Yeah, it was annoying all right.

"Hey, where's Laserbeak?" I wondered as I carefully helped him out of his torn leather jacket. I tossed the thing to the side to reveal even more cuts, scratches and wounds.

He inhaled sharply when I tentatively inspected a shallow wound on his lower abdomen. I did my best not to focus too much on his awesome abs; right now clearly wasn't the time for that. "I sent her away to safety when I realized what you were going to try to do. I contacted her when I onlined on the ship, so hopefully she should be on her way."

"Speaking about that… why in the world did you fly off to the Nemesis without me? You knew Megatron would see you there and attack! It was kind of stupid," I took off my apron and used a part of it to soak in water and treat his wounds with. Then I paused thoughtfully. What he did was indeed stupid, but I've done several stupid things in the past short while, so maybe I can't be the one to judge.

"You didn't get enough training and I didn't think you were prepared to do what you did yesterday. I didn't want to see you getting hurt, and I knew we had to destroy the weapon as soon as possible, so I went off my instincts."

I gently pulled him off the rock. "Take off your shirt and lie down," I ordered, and he did so. I resumed cleaning, happy to see that the blood had stopped.

"You did well, Cassandra. I'm proud of you," he said softly. My fingers stilled and I stared into his shades. "You were brave, and you saved New York City. You're a hero."

I blushed fiercely. "Didn't you see the Autobots? They're the real heroes. I just sort of helped. Plus, you're the one who kept Megatron distracted. It must've been hard having to face off against him like that."

He grinned and tilted his head back against the grass, so that the golden sunlight reflected on his shades. "I've wanted to stand up to Megatron for a long, long time. And you know what? It felt _good_."

I laughed. "I bet so. Are you sure you're feeling okay?"

He moved to sit up so I rolled back on my heels. "Like I told you before: I'm fine. I do appreciate your help, though," he suddenly frowned. "You've got M&Ms in your hair."

How the heck are they still there? I lifted my hands to my hair to rake them out, but Soundwave grabbed my wrists and lowered them. My hands were replaced by his, and he gently picked through the tangled strands to retrieve the candies. I smiled and squeezed my eyes shut until they were all out.

When I opened my eyes again, his shirt was back on—unfortunately—and he had a stack of mushed M&Ms at his side.

"What are we going to do now?" I asked him.

He shrugged and picked idly at random weeds. "Try to keep out of Megatron's radar and find that sister of yours, I think."

I wrapped my arms around my waist in a failed attempt to comfort myself. "I have no idea where Ellie is. She could be anywhere right now, and there are so many places to look…"

He placed a warm hand on my shoulder and brushed a thumb along my collarbone. I shivered, but it wasn't from the cold air outside. "Where did you see her last?"

"In the alley near the coffee shop where I worked. She was with me when I transformed; I know that because of what Starscream said. I think she was even there when the Autobots arrived."

He grinned all of a sudden. My brow furrowed in confusion, but he went on quickly: "If Ellie saw the Autobots, you and Starscream, they would've had to have taken her with them. It's part of their code. And it would've been especially easy, since she claimed to have no guardian but you, who had flown off with Starscream."

"So Ellie is with the Autobots?" I jumped to my feet, pissed. "Damn it! I was _this _close to them, and now they're probably long gone! She's perfectly safe with them, isn't it?"

His grin never vanished, which only irritated me more. "There's no need to worry. I've seen the Autobots' human friends collectively centered in a town in Nevada called Jasper. I'm almost certain you'll find her there. She's safe with them. We—I mean the Decepticons—haven't yet been able to successfully capture the humans. She's all right."

I was practically squealing at this point. "And you can take me there?"

His visor flashed. "If we start now, we'll arrive at Jasper in no more than four hours."

"Oh my God, I love you!" I exclaimed, and pulled him down for a kiss before I could think twice.

I don't really know why I did it; I was too happy to think about much of anything that was rational. However, I had always been secretly wondering what a kiss from Soundwave would be like. I was hoping it would be better than my first and only kiss, which I shared with a pimple faced seventeen year old. And I certainly hadn't been the one to initiate it.

Kissing Soundwave was peculiar but sweet at the same time. It was painfully obvious he hadn't been expecting it at all, and once my lips touched his, he kind of just froze there. That was okay with me. I didn't expect him to return it or anything. Still, it felt so nice being close to him with my mouth touching his that I didn't care. Even though he never moved a muscle, it was a million times better than the kiss with pimply Robert.

I rocked back onto the heels of my feet and let him go. I licked my lips and realized that he tasted faintly of cinnamon. His cheeks were the color of cherries, and I couldn't help but smile.

He opened his mouth and snapped it shut just as fast. Then, in a breathy tone, he queried, "What was that?"

Bots don't kiss? No way! "It was a kiss, silly!"

"Oh. Can we do it again?"

I shoved at him playfully, careful to avoid his bruised spots. "Maybe later. Right now, you need to take me to Nevada."

"Right," he nodded dutifully, still with flushed cheeks. I hopped into the cockpit and we were off in an instant. I do think he seriously considered what I said about taking it easier, though, because I didn't feel as sick this time. I was able to lean back and enjoy the sights.

After a couple hours of flying, I saw that the sun was beginning to set. Also, Laserbeak had found us and had somehow managed to convert back to her original, metal form. As far as I knew, she was hitching a ride on his roof. I curled up on the seat and rubbed my flat stomach, hearing it growl in anger. At times, my belly could be a real drama monster. It wouldn't let me do or think about anything until I had it properly taken care of. Stupid belly monster. I tilted my head back to stare up at the darkened sky, and I sighed. I'm wishing Soundwave hadn't taken the M&Ms out of my hair right about now.

"You're making strange noises that don't seem to be coming from your mouth," Soundwave noticed quietly. "How is that possible?"

I patted my belly once more. She growled in response. "It's my belly. She wants food. I'm trying to make her stay quiet, but I literally have no control over this. Don't worry though—I can wait till we get to Jasper."

"Sometimes our bodies know what we need before we do ourselves," he noted matter-of-factly. "Where should I take you to retrieve sustenance?"

"I'm fine," I insisted. My stomach rumbled once more, embarrassingly loud this time. I winced. "Fine, have it your way!" I leaned over to peer down below. I saw lights down there, indicating a city. "Could you take me down there? They should have a Burger King or something."

He flew down on the outskirts of the city and changed back into a human. We helped each other look suitable before heading into the city. I had abandoned my coffee-serving apron, so now all I was wearing was a dirty black shirt and some old slacks. Hopefully the jacket will cover those nasty blood stains on his shirt. It'd be particularly difficult explaining those.

I still had my wallet and remarkably enough cash left, so I bought dinner for us at a pizza place. I knew he would love the pizza, which he did. I was also happy to find that the human food served as a nice replacement for the energon needed for our Cybertronian bodies. That was a good thing, too. I had no clue where someone would find energon. It's not like they sell it at the grocery store.

I know that to Soundwave being at the pizza place together wouldn't have registered as a date, but I liked to pretend it was. Yeah, I know: I technically kissed him before the first 'date'. I've only been on a few dates before, but all of them started and ended horribly. I never found anyone I was able to remotely connect with, and everyone I talked to failed to hold my interest. Even though Soundwave and I had our clear differences, I was able to connect with him in a way that felt… right. I felt drawn to him like no one else I'd ever met before. He was nice, kind, intelligent, crazy hot, and we both loved country and rock music. Yeah, he admitted to tapping into radio signals in his quarters and hitting the local stations.

I wanted to ask him what happened in the wash racks that one day on the Nemesis, but I found I didn't have the courage too. Plus, I didn't want to ruin our optimistic look on things tonight. I learned a little bit more about him and his past life on Cybertron—which coincidentally wasn't too different from the life he left here—and I told him about my own childhood. Why was it so easy to talk to him?

After dinner, we agreed that neither of us were tired because of our stasis nap on the Nemesis, so we hit the skies again. We had to spend two more hours in the air to get to Jasper, and it wasn't all that bad. Soundwave even managed to wriggle his way into the radio stations to get some music playing. Ah, you gotta love the technical geniuses.

We made it to Jasper really early in the morning or really late at night, however you want to put it. We knew that no one would be even close to getting up yet, so we camped out by some big rocks in the desert and chilled there. It was nice to stretch my legs. I'm not dogging on Soundwave or anything, but _damn _does he have a tiny cockpit.

MEGATRON'S POV

Megatron stood impatiently in the center of his control room, waiting for impatiently for Knockout to arrive. He glared with his murderously red optics as Knockout fearfully inched his way into the space. He could smell fear from miles away.

"You wished to see me, my liege," Knockout bowed, but less extravagantly than usual. He also refused to make optic-contact. Hmm, so the medic truly was frightened. Good.

Megatron slowly advanced on the medic, who immediately cowered in fear. "Why did you let them escape?"

"I-I honestly don't know what happened, Lord Megatron. One moment they're securely bound in the cuffs, the next they're suddenly free—"

Megatron took hold of a shoulder spike and squeezed to the point that the medic whimpered. "Do you think I don't already know they escaped? I want to know why! How?! Where did they leave to?!"

Megatron released him and he stumbled back. Starscream stood guard at the exit with a smirk on his face, effectively keeping Knockout from escaping. "Th-they appeared to disappear for an instant, my liege. At first I thought they had, until I saw something that told me it was not the case. I saw the femme, Whitethorn, as a… a _skinjob_. It was disgusting! And Soundwave was the same way! They didn't remain like that for long, but long enough to slip out of the cuffs and back into bots. Soundwave sent a hard blow to me, knocking me into stasis, and I figure that's when they escaped. I do not know where to."

"Humans?" Megatron was stunned. He picked a rattled Knockout up with one servo and threw him at Starscream. Starscream scowled and barely had time to move before Knockout went sailing past him and out of the room. Megatron hoped it would leave plenty of scratches. "They must have had some sort of device allowing them to do so. Starscream, do you know of anything like that?"

"Not to my knowledge," Starscream placed his servos behind his back thoughtfully. "But I have given some thought to when you sent me to New York to find the relic. How could a femme land so clearly in an alley in the city like that? And with no memory at all? She had no protective shell… she was simply lying there between the organic structures. I found the relic just above her, drained of its contents. Not only that, but a small skinjob was quite fond of her."

Megatron swiveled to face the lean mech fully now, as he had greatly piqued his interest. "What are you proposing, Starscream?"

"I'm saying, my liege, that if my hunch is correct… Whitethorn is no Cybertronian. She is a human, turned Cybertronian by the relic," he grinned evilly at the silence that stretched between them. "I believe the same happened to Soundwave. If you remember correctly, he sent that creature of his to try to locate any samples of the relic. He was likely infected with it as well. It could've had the reverse effect."

Megatron looked about ready to implode. "You're meaning to say I almost bonded with a _human_?!" his roar of outrage could be heard throughout the entire ship, sending tremors down every bots' spine. "Starscream… I want you to find them both, and I want you to hand me their sparks—Cybertronian _or _organic. If you fail me this time, I will not hesitate to end you once and for all. Do I make myself clear?"

All previous confidence Starscream had once had was flushed down the drain. He gulped and bowed. "I'll get right on it, Lord Megatron. Soundwave and the human will be terminated."


	7. Chapter 7

I don't have the chapters pre-written; I only had 1-3 written, but I thought a chapter a day would be nice, so I usually start and finish them late at night. And that's okay, because of the 6-7 hour time difference! :) Now I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to finish the story... & I don't really like it that much anymore. Grr, another story won't leave me alone! Also, I've been really busy so I'm not sure if I'll have the next chapter done by tomorrow.

And kayleesullivan2000, I read your story and left a review. I'm not too good at leaving suggestions, but it's an awesome story idea!

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CASSANDRA'S POV

"So you don't know where in Jasper they are?" I repeated thoughtfully. Eh, I can't expect him to know everything. I turned my head to the darkened city and sighed. "Well, I guess it won't be too difficult to cover the area. It's certainly easier to deal with than New York, don't you think?"

"Are you looking for an Autobot or are you looking for Ellie?"

I shrugged. "Whichever one I see first, I guess, though I do think spotting a giant robot should be easier than finding a twelve year old girl."

He grinned. The falcon on his shoulder ruffled its feathers with a strange, knowing look in its eyes. "You'd be surprised."

ELLIE'S POV

Ellie rolled over in the twin-sized bed, trying but failing miserably to stifle a loud yawn as she reached over to bang on the alarm rock. She positively hated the thing; it shrieked at her like a siren and couldn't even begin to compare to the quiet, pleasant way her sister used to wake her up.

She got ready for school with Raf and was soon ready to go. She clutched her trusty journal to her chest and followed him outside, to where Bumblebee was patiently waiting. His bright yellow paint shone vibrantly and his rims gleamed from the wash they'd given him last night. He chirped cheerily when they climbed inside him. Raf knew what he was saying, but Ellie herself never had a clue. His speech was just a random string of beeps and whirrs to her ears.

"No sign of where the Nemesis is?" Ellie asked Bumblebee as he cruised down the street. He gave a beep that sounded like a negative response, so she nodded sadly and lowered her eyes.

Bumblebee had told her of the white femme that'd helped them yesterday, and that she looked like the same one Starscream carried off into the sky that one night. So, she knew for a fact that the bot the Autobots saw last night was indeed her sister. Bumblebee said that he recognized her and helped her as much as he could, and he and the Autobots agreed to take her back to their base, but he couldn't save her from Megatron. Megatron plucked her from their grasp and dragged her into the Nemesis, after Soundwave with the same fate. They tried to save her, but the Nemesis was already taking off and the Decepticons sent rounds and rounds of drones after them. They failed to hold them off, and Optimus ended up having to call Ratchet for a ground bridge so they could escape. She was _this _close to having her back. At least she knows she's alive, and it's pretty cool to know that Cassandra herself destroyed the super weapon and helped the Autobots save New York City. Her sister was a hero.

Ellie gazed forlornly out the window at the small buildings passing by. Raf was talking avidly to Bumblebee in a conversation she obviously couldn't understand a word of, so she was fine to settle with staring and daydreaming. It's what she did most of the time now anyways.

Bumblebee suddenly drove very quickly past someone that caused alarms to go off in her head. She just saw Cass!

"Stop the car!" she yelled, effectively stopping their conversation short. "I just saw my sister!"

Raf glanced at her slightly dubiously. "Are you sure you weren't imagining it?"

"Certain!" she shouted as Bumblebee spun his car around and slammed on brakes. She saw her sister running frantically towards the car, probably remembering it from yesterday.

Ellie leapt out of the car and into her sister's open arms. They hugged each other tight, squeezing out a few tears in the process. And wow—she was a lot stronger than she remembered.

"Can't… breathe…" Ellie gasped, and Cass let go of her instantly.

"Are you okay? Are you hurt?" her sister said worriedly as she checked her over.

"I'm okay," Ellie reassured her as Raf curiously made his way over. She knew that Raf wanted to believe her, but it was still probably strange for him actually seeing her sister… especially after what she'd told him about her. Ellie was expecting her to be a giant robot, not a human being. "Cass, this is my friend Raf. He goes to the same school as me."

She smiled at him and shook his hand amiably. "Nice to meet you, Raf," she glanced briefly at Ellie with a questionable look on her face that made her blush fiercely. No, she didn't like Raf like _that_.

"And that's Bumblebee, our guardian," she went on, gesturing to the yellow and black car.

CASSANDRA'S POV

_Bumblebee_, I thought, with an amused smile. Fitting. I walked over and patted his hood awkwardly, not quite knowing how to thank him or where the heck I was supposed to place my hands. "Thank you, Bumblebee, for watching over my sister. And thanks for watching my back in New York."

He let out some beeps that translated to: "You're welcome. Is what Ellie said true? Did blue goo really turn you from a human into a bot?"

"Yep. Pretty weird, huh?"

Raf blinked at me. "You can understand him? I thought I was the only human that could."

"Well, I'm not exactly fully human anymore," I admitted under my breath. I didn't like saying it out loud.

And then… I realized something was missing, and that that someone had a name: Soundwave. Where was he? I looked around desperately, baffled at his sudden disappearance. He was right there beside me, walking with me through the town, helping me look for them. Did he disappear the moment I started running towards Bumblebee? I wonder why, and I hope he's okay. Ugh, I'm seriously going to kill him next time he shows up. One of these days he's really going to give me a heart attack!

Since Bumblebee had to take Cass and Raf to school, I accompanied them in his car. Bumblebee said he wanted to take me to the base so we could discuss my 'condition' and what happened with the others. I was appreciative of it and kept relatively quiet on the way there. Ellie wanted to know everything that happened after Starscream carried me away, and I felt reluctant to tell her. It was strange even for me to believe; plus, I didn't feel too proud admitting that I complied with the Decepticons for a while. I have their mark just about my heart, and it feels close to treason.

I tapped my fingers against my knee, now stressing about Soundwave. Why did he leave me like that? What if someone took him? This is just _great_: I find my sister and lose Soundwave at the exact same time. Who would've thought?

"Have a good day, Ellie and Raf," I told them goodbye along with Bumblebee as they hurried to class.

"So where's this base of yours?" I wondered as he started driving away from the town. I noticed two other vehicles following us: a familiar blue and pink motorcycle and a large green vehicle. "All I see is desert. And more desert."

Bumblebee's beeping voice came from the speakers. "We set up our base at an abandoned military facility. It's disguised in a mountain so Decepticons or other humans won't be able to find it."

"Smart."

Bumblebee took me to a large mountain, the others following, and I had to squeeze my eyes shut and brace myself so I wouldn't scream when we went zooming into it. I heaved a sigh of relief as we safely entered the base, briefly racing through a tunnel to the main area. I peered out the window nervously, recognizing the big blue and red bot and the blue and white one. I don't think I've ever seen the orange and white one before.

The others transformed and Bumblebee opened his door. I timidly exited the car, wishing I could shrink even smaller as Bumblebee transformed beside me. At first, no one noticed me. But then…

The orange and white one spotted me, optics widening and mouth parting in shock. "_Who _is that?!"

Every bot but Bumblebee jumped high off the ground upon spotting me. I winced and waved in a friendly way. "Hi, I'm Cassandra Barlow. I'm Ellie's sister."

"Ellie's sister. Who brought her here?" the cranky orange and white one demanded.

Bumblebee shrugged impishly when I looked over at him. The blue and red bot knelt down in front of me, optics scanning me curiously. "Agent Fowler attempted to make contact with you, but he said that he couldn't find you anywhere in New York."

"Yeah… about that. I wasn't in New York till yesterday."

The blue and white one smirked and elbowed Bumblebee. "I told you Ellie was lying. Want your proof? There's your proof."

My eyes narrowed. "Ellie doesn't lie."

"We didn't mean to offend you; your sister seemed to think you had… changed," the big bot looked quite uncomfortable.

Changed? Oh, I get it. I stood back and transformed, sending them into an awed, dumbfounded silence.

"It was the relic," I explained simply.

So, you can imagine that I spent the next long while explaining nearly every detail since I turned, to the Autobots. They immediately set to removing the Decepticon insignia on my chassis—thank God—and scanned me to see exactly what was going on in my body. They saw that the liquid was penetrating my systems, but they couldn't tell precisely what it was doing to me or if it would ever go away. When they began to wonder if it would shut down my systems entirely, I begged them to stop looking and fled from the birth. Next, they all introduced themselves and showed me around the Autobot base. I saw that they each had their own separate quarters for recharge, and I was even shown the containment unit where they safely stored all the relics in their possession.

"Do you know if Megatron has any more weapons like the one we saw yesterday, in his arsenal?" Optimus Prime asked.

I shook my helm. "No, not to my knowledge. Then again, it's not like I saw much when I was there," I lowered my gaze to my pedes. "I don't even know if I should be here. I just wanted to see Ellie alive and okay. I know that Megatron is after me. I don't want to lead him here."

"We can give you our protection," he insisted, and Bumblebee whirred in agreement. "We are here on Earth to protect all organic beings… especially those who have been caught up in the mess we have created. I suggest that you stay here on base. You'll be safest here."

I paced in a circle, exasperated. "They're after Soundwave too, and Soundwave's a good guy now. I don't know where he went…"

"Soundwave, a good guy?" Arcee scoffed, looking offended in fact. "That's impossible."

I sent her a dispassionate glare. "He's changed, I swear."

Optimus placed a servo on my shoulder to reassure me. "If Soundwave returns with an honest offer to defect, then we will accept him as well. It is the Autobot code. Do you agree to stay here on base?"

I glanced at Bumblebee, who nodded excitedly. I smiled warmly, glad that he liked the notion of me staying. "I'd love to stay here, if you'd let me. I want to stay with my sister and I know that she's safest with you guys. Thank you… for everything."

"We'll always be willing to help someone in need."

I wanted to get out of the base for a little bit, and though I couldn't do it unsupervised, I could still do it with Bumblebee. I claimed that my reason was just to get some fresh air and survey my surroundings a bit, but my real reason was to look for Soundwave. I sliced through the orange sand, Bumblebee hot on my tail. After finding no trace of Soundwave and the city, I looked as far around in the surrounding areas as Bumblebee would allow. To entertain ourselves we talked and chased each other through the desert, under the hot Nevada sun. I didn't find Soundwave, but I did have fun with Bumblebee.

Of course, the fun had to be cut short. Sleek, dark-colored jets sped towards us through the clear blue sky, a slightly smaller silver jet in the lead. My engines turned. Starscream.

Bumblebee commed in for backup, but unfortunately it didn't change our current, dire situation as Starscream landed in a sandy cloud before us. A group of eradicons stood waiting behind him, and Starscream grinned evilly.

"Hello, Whitethorn. Or should I say… Cassandra Barlow?" he smirked. How does he know that?! "Megatron fancies your spark on a silver platter, so how about we—"

I never heard the end of that sentence. A dark, blurred shape whizzed by and hit Starscream hard, sending him hurtling, damaged, into a rock face. The eradicons surged forward, and Bumblebee expertly began to cut them down. I just did my best.

I looked over and realized that Soundwave was standing in front of Starscream, possibly trying to rip his vocal cords out. I couldn't tell from this angle. That was about the time that the backup arrived, cleanly finishing off the rest of the eradicons. When the injured Starscream saw what was happening, he weaseled out of Soundwave's grip and took off into the sky. He was too fast, and Soundwave must've seen that, because he didn't even attempt to follow him. He turned around, stalking towards a mountain. When it looked like he was about to take off, I lurched forward and grabbed one of his pedes, wrapping my arms around it before he could. I hugged the metal tight, stubbornly determined not to let go.

Bulkhead and Smokescreen consisted of the backup squad, and they stared at me as I refused to let go of Soundwave, no matter how hard he shook his pede. He actually dragged me across the dirt for a little while, until he noticed how seriously committed I was to my position. Oh, yes. Once I commit to something, I refuse to let go until it's finished properly.

I only let go of him when he stopped moving and grabbed my servo, squeezing it. I read the unspoken message and turned to the others hopefully. "Would you mind if I talked to Soundwave for a short while? I'll be right back."

They all looked at each other and shrugged. Bumblebee's worried, bright blue optics met mine and he made me promise to be careful. Once I did that, Soundwave transformed into a jet, I hopped into the cockpit as a human, and he took off into the sky. In the jet, I told him about how Starscream knew about me being a human. It kind of freaked me out how he knew that and was able to find me.

We landed a minute or so later on the shadowy side of a large, crooked mountain. I folded my arms across my chest and waited impatiently. When he turned into a human like I wanted, I angrily slapped his arm and shouted, "Where did you go off to this morning? One moment you were there, and the very next you were gone! What was I supposed to think? Never do that again!"

Slowly, tentatively, he reached up to take off his shades. I froze like a statue, watching with wide eyes as he removed them. He tilted his raven-haired head and gazed at me apprehensively with his violet-colored eyes. His eyes were beautiful. I forgave him instantly.

"I'm sorry," he apologized softly as he held my hand in his own. "I couldn't face the Autobots. Not after… not after everything I've done. You'll be safe with them, Cassandra. You and Ellie. I can't protect you like they can, and I can't face them, so I rationalized that this was the best choice."

"You rationalize too much," I pointed out. "You know what? I talked to the Autobots. Optimus Prime himself said that he'd give you a chance if you went up to him. They'll accept you, Soundwave. Well… maybe Arcee will be a bit of a difficulty, but I'm sure she'll come around. Come on, you have to come back with me to the base. There are video games there!" I tried to pull him away from the mountain's shadow.

He stood firm and reigned me in closer. "I'd love to go with you, but I can't. I'm not an Autobot and I never will be. I'll never fit in there and they'll never forgive me."

"Yes, they will!"

"How can I know that when I don't even forgive myself?!" he demanded in a near-shout, which is the loudest I've ever heard him. I quieted down and chose to listen. "The Autobots will protect you, Cassandra, but so will I—whenever you need me," he looked away then. "I want you to stay in the base and lie low for a while."

I raised an eyebrow. "Why is that?"

"I'm going after Megatron, and I'm going to kill him. I'll do the same to Starscream. I'll blow up the whole ship if I have to."

"That's courageous of you, but it would be a lot easier with the help of the Autobots. And there's no way you're leaving without me," I stated. He hesitated. "Bulkhead said he's great at tearing stuff up, and he's got a buddy called Wheeljack who knows about some serious explosives. If you're thinking of blowing the ship up, you should talk to him."

He appeared thoughtful for a moment. "I suppose I could try. There's no harm in it."

I smiled at him. "Now that's the spirit. So do we have a plan?"

"I think we do. But before we begin, I want something of yours."

"And what would that be?"

He grinned in a way that made my stomach flutter. He placed both of his warm hands on either side of my face and lowered his head so that I could feel his breath on my lips. "A kiss," he breathed huskily. I squeezed my eyes shut and didn't move a muscle, too afraid of screwing it up. He leaned in and he kissed me. And the kiss was… incredible. It was a real kiss, a deep kiss, the type of kiss you read about in books or see in movies. He pulled me into his arms, pulling me flush against him. I wrapped my arms around his neck and he sifted his fingers into my hair, delicately brushing through the tangles that were always there.

When we pulled away, I was breathless and for the first time in a long time, my mind was blank. I couldn't remember anything we'd said before, and I blinked wildly in an attempt to bring myself back. Soundwave laughed and pulled me in for a warm hug, which I melted into. I never knew a hug could make you feel so warm and safe. It's a very nice feeling, and I'd like to feel it again sometime.

Thankfully, I began to remember our conversation before and I pulled away nervously. "So, um, are you going to follow me to the base now?"

He still didn't let go of my hand, and started playing with my fingers. "If you're sure about this, then I'll go with you. I just want this war to be over in the quickest way possible."

I pulled him out of the shadows. "And that, my friend, can be easily accomplished with teamwork. As well as some high-grade explosives. Maybe some grenades and bombs. Several dozen sticks of dynamite certainly wouldn't hurt, either…"


	8. Chapter 8

Well, I think the story is about to come to a close. There'll probably be one or two chapters after this, I'm not sure. Hope you enjoy!

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CASSANDRA'S POV

Soundwave and I met up with Bumblebee, Bulkhead and Smokescreen to tell them what we were planning. Bulkhead was elated with the idea of blowing up the Nemesis, and said he'd try to find Wheeljack to help. We then headed to the base and, when met by an awkward silence, Soundwave was taken somewhere private by Optimus so they could talk things out. I guess I could understand the Autobots' apprehension with him. He was arguably the most loyal Decepticon under Megatron's power, before he defected. However, you couldn't deny that he was also the perfect and perhaps only bot with the ability to fly up to the Nemesis and plant the explosives. Without him, this whole thing would be a heck of a lot more difficult.

Later, I went with Bumblebee, Bulkhead and Arcee to pick up the kids from school. If the Autobots were impressed with my alt mode, then I knew for a fact that Ellie would be. She and I have only dreamed of owning a car like this—and now we have one! In fact, I am one. Sort of awesome, in my opinion.

"This is so cool," Ellie exclaimed as she happily hopped in. "Look at you!"

"And I had that Decepticon symbol taken off of me too," I announced proudly. "See my dashboard and the lack of it?"

She laughed. "Congratulations. Are you going to get the Autobot symbol on you now?"

I followed after Bumblebee, Bulkhead and Arcee as they headed out of town. "I don't think so. I'm not an Autobot, Ellie. I'm not a hero like them. I'm just a human caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. Blue goo doesn't make me an Autobot."

She sighed and pulled her backpack into her lap. "Weren't you the one who told me that everything happens for a reason?"

Frustrated by her crazy memory capacities, I revved my engine to speed in front of the others. I also had no response; I couldn't exactly argue with myself, now could I?

Once we reached the base, the kids were brought up to speed with what was going on. When they were able to contact and call on Wheeljack, the fifteen-year old named Miko seemed the most excited of them, second only to Bulkhead. He explained that Wheeljack wasn't precisely an Autobot, but it didn't mean he didn't like to kick Decepticon aft and help them when they needed it. Apparently, Bulkhead and Wheeljack were 'wreckers' on Cybertron, and they had a history. Bulkhead said that Wheeljack would probably be at the base in the next day or so. Until then, we decided that we needed to prepare for the attack on the Nemesis. But even to remotely begin the process, we needed to figure out exactly where the ship was. We left it to Soundwave to find the coordinates, and he did—in record time. Ah… so that must be one of the reasons why Megatron forgives him so easily, and why he's still online.

On the grid, the ship was discovered hovering in Iowa skies. Now that we found its coordinates, we were able to hold onto the signal as long as it stays connected and keep it there until we're ready to attack. So, Soundwave stood in front of the monitors dutifully, watching them incessantly and silently… an eerie reminder of his time on the Nemesis. No. He's not the same mech he was back then, and maybe he never was. It was just a… just a mask. And he's beginning to take off that mask, mentally and literally. I need to remind myself of that and make sure I fully believe it. I shook my head and turned my attention back to the conflict at hand. Unfortunately, I was a little too late.

"Ha! I beat you!" Miko boasted with a wide grin as she hopped up from the couch, controller in hand. "I win!"

I handed the controller to Jack—her next victim—in understood failure. "Yes Miko, it looks like you've beat me."

"Looks? I whipped your butt!" she plopped back onto the couch and commenced gaming. "Now, Jack, prepare yourself for a world of pain!"

I was heading over to Ellie and Raf when Agent Fowler appeared. I'd spoken to him earlier on today with the rest of the Autobots about what'd happened to me, and I'd even taken him aside to tell him about my apartment and job in New York. I was going to lose both of those, and if I didn't make payments or appear there in the apartment for the monthly check-in with the landlord, they were going to throw me out. I was majorly stressing out about that, along with everything else of course.

Agent Fowler marched over to me purposefully. "I've taken care of everything for you," he stated, and I just about melted then and there. "Until this all blows over, you're safe to stay here with your sister for as long as you need. When you return, you'll have your normal life back… including the school, the job, and the apartment. We went ahead and paid off your bills in that respect."

My eyes bugged out of my head. I hadn't expected him to do all of that! I'm most definitely grateful, though. And does this mean I won't have any more nightmares about giant coins and dollar bills chasing me through the streets? I think so. I gave him a quick hug, absolutely thrilled with the news. "Thank you, Agent Fowler! You have no idea how much this means to me. I can't thank you enough!"

He shrugged, though I could tell he looked quite satisfied with himself. "I'm just doing my job."

Sometime later, it was time for everyone to go home. Ellie desperately wanted to stay with me on the base, and it took a while to convince her otherwise. I'd have loved for her to stay with me, but I didn't have any money left to get her dinner and Raf's guardian was expecting her. I ended up driving her to Raf's house, but it took even more convincing to actually get her out of the car. Eventually, reluctantly, she got out of it and waved goodbye and goodnight. I didn't like to see her go away without me, after missing her for so long, but I reassured myself by imagining that this was simply another sleepover of hers. She's had them before, and I suppose that this instance certainly could be labeled as a sleepover. With a… boy. Ugh, I should seriously stop thinking about it. I'm going to totally freak myself out, and not in the good way. With that in mind, I hastily backed up and drove with Bumblebee back to the base.

Optimus gave me my own room and berth, and it looked a lot less gloomy and dark than the one on the Nemesis. I lied down on the berth with my optics offline but my processor busy. I couldn't bring myself to a state of recharge, no matter how many fragging sheep I counted. Mumbling curses under my breath, I angrily rolled off the berth and marched into the hallway. I actually didn't realize where I was going until I was already there.

"Cassandra, is that you?" a familiar voice called out from the darkness, voice laced with hints of static. It strangely resembled the throaty sound of a sleepy person's voice.

Feeling guilty about waking him up, I turned around and went to leave. I didn't even know why I was here in the first place. But then, a servo wrapped around my arm and tugged me back farther in the room. His room was cloaked in darkness, but the hallway was lit up faintly so that I could see a tentacle sliding like a metal snake into the light. It snapped the door shut so I could see nothing again. I nearly squealed when I felt something brush against my pede and slip up my lower leg, but relaxed when I remembered his feelers.

"I'm-I'm sorry," I stuttered, feeling like an absolute idiot. "I don't why I came here. I couldn't sleep, so… um… here I am, I guess. I'm really sorry I woke you up. I'm happy you left the monitors for recharge, though. I was afraid you were going to be staring at that screen all night."

"I managed to lock onto the Nemesis' exact location a short while ago. The systems will be able to follow the ship without me there, as long as the tech doesn't crash. I'll be checking on it periodically through the night."

His words were cool and steady, a complete contrast to my stumbling and frenzied processor, thanks to the second feeler now creeping up my leg. It felt… odd. It was nice, but it was sending jolts of… well, pleasure through me that I've only felt as a human. Abruptly, I thought about the kiss Soundwave and I shared. He probably didn't even know what he was doing, which is why I've tried not to give too much thought to it. I mean: he's a giant robot and I'm a human girl! It's not like we could ever have a real relationship. We may be able to be physically similar to each other, but inside we have to be completely different. I vented air through my mouth and struggled to not think about how warm his chassis felt against me, and how nice being so close to him was. I thought you could _only _feel this as a human. It made me wonder. Can Cybertronians 'get together' like humans do? Do they only do it with bondmates, or maybe sparkmates?

Suddenly, I frowned as a question I forgot to ask Optimus Prime popped into my head. "Soundwave, what's the difference between a bondmate and a sparkmate?"

The physical contact halted immediately. He pulled away so fast I would've fallen face first if I wasn't paying close enough attention.

"Wh-why the sudden interest? Where did you hear about a sparkmate?"

It was rather annoying not being able to see him as I talked to him, but I made do. And it was a lot easier to talk without his feelers on me. "Optimus Prime told me about his sparkmate—a femme called Elita One. Megatron said he wanted me to be his bondmate, not his sparkmate. Is there any difference?"

He was silent for a bit before responding, "There's a difference. Hypothetically, any two bots could be bondmates if they wanted to. All it takes is smarkmerging and a transfer of data. However, every bot has only one sparkmate. Usually, they never find that one bot, so they settle with bonding to another. It can be a long, perhaps eternal wait if you decide to do it that way. But if they do wait and someday find that one bot, it's the best feeling anyone could imagine. Once you find them, you know you can't ever let them go."

I nodded, beginning to understand. "Okay… so a sparkmate is like a soul mate. Makes sense. Now, I should probably leave so we can get some sleep…" I walked slowly toward the exit, not really wanting to leave at all.

He sounded kind of amused then. "You want to stay, don' t you."

I rolled my optics. "_No_, I do not. Well. Maybe I do, but it doesn't mean I will. I refuse to keep you up, and I'm kind of tired myself."

I felt him take my servo and lead me back to the berth. "I'll sleep easier with you there, too," he coaxed me back and before I knew it, I was sound asleep on the berth.

When I woke up, he was gone. Probably in front of that monitor again. I stretched out my limbs and gears and wandered out of the room to find the Autobots and the kids in the living room. Miko was with Bulkhead, Raf was helping Soundwave with the tracking systems, Jack was with Ratchet and Optimus, and Ellie ran towards me when she saw me. She wore a cheery smile as she greeted me good morning.

"Hey, do you know what time it is?" I asked her as I knelt down closer. I chose to keep this form, for now.

She reached into her jean pocket and pulled out a… a cellphone? "Around nine."

I narrowed my optics. "Ellie? Where did you get that cellphone?"

Her eyes widened as she looked between her cellphone and me. She quickly tucked it away and swallowed hard. "W-well… it was… Miko. She got a new one for her birthday a couple weeks ago, so she let me have this one. Can I keep it? Pretty please?"

I glanced at Miko with a sigh. The main reason she doesn't have one is because we couldn't afford one. If Miko had an extra, then I guess I could argue with that. "Okay, I suppose you can have…" I trailed off, seeing a flash of white and blue from the corner of my optics. I jumped and almost cursed when Smokescreen casually walked through the wall beside me, carrying a cube of energon.

"I heard you just woke up. Good morning!" he handed it to me amiably and I accepted it, speechless. How the heck is that possible?

"Smokescreen!" Ratchet yelled across the room. It's like he has optics on the back of his helm. "Put that relic back where you found it! We do _not _play with Iacon relics, and we haven't even agreed on using them for the attack yet."

"I think they'd be helpful," he muttered.

Optimus Prime walked over to him and nodded his helm. "Smokescreen is right. If needed, I believe we should use all of our possible resources if there is even a mere chance that this will end the war. The Decepticons are becoming a very serious threat to the humans, as we've seen in New York."

I frowned all of a sudden. "I know that blowing up the Nemesis will solve the Decepticon problem, but what about you guys? Cybertron is… dead. Unless you have a way of reviving it, you'll be pretty much stuck here on Earth."

"Exactly," Ratchet huffed.

Miko looked up at Bulkhead, her eyes bright in excitement. "You can stay with me in Tokyo! Of course, I'll have to bling you up a little…"

He looked horrified. Arcee smirked at him and strode forward. "Kid, our primary priority is to get rid of the Decepticons and protect Earth. When we've done that, we can devote all our focus to reviving Cybertron."

"We've begun to pick up signals for the Omega Keys," Optimus explained. "With them, we'll have the power to bring back Cybertron. We can't allow Megatron get his servos on them, so it would be wise to make sure he never has the chance. However, I believe we must give the others the chance to defect before we destroy the entire ship. There are many bots on the Nemesis, and you never know if any of them might be like Soundwave."

Upon hearing his name, Soundwave cocked his head slightly in our direction. By his confused, thoughtful stance, I figured he wasn't really listening to us. And he was still wearing that irritating visor. When the Autobots were quiet, saying nothing, he turned back to the screen with Raf to work on tech stuff. I think they were trying to hack into the Nemesis' mainframe… perhaps trying to find a way to destroy it from the inside-out.

"He's here," Ratchet declared, and not a minute later, a white, orange and green racecar came on in. He transformed immediately, just in time to accept a crushing hug from Bulkhead, who seemed to call him "Jackie".

Wheeljack was promptly filled in on the situation, and ready for action not a moment too soon. He supplied us with grenades and gave the team ideas for many different types of explosives. Optimus Prime made him and Bulkhead agree to only use them when they got the signal; he was still bent on making sure the mechs had a chance to defect and get out alive. I knew Starscream would definitely bend if it was a matter of life and death, though he seemed like a dangerous, conniving bot to keep alive. I'd like to see him offlined, to be honest. I was kind of hoping Knockout would defect, though. Sure, he can be a little evil sometimes and aggravating, but he's really just a mix of fear, paranoia, and cockiness. He's practically harmless. There were several mechs I and the Autobots had in mind of getting out alive and defecting, but I'm sure that everyone knew that there was one mech in particular who had to be taken down at all costs. I've heard what Soundwave and the others have said about him. He just doesn't die. He's too much of a crazy glitch-head to accept death when he sees it.

After settling on a few explosives that everyone agreed on, they decided it was time. Soundwave and Raf had successfully lowered the Nemesis' firewalls and had it ready for attack. They couldn't completely control it, but that didn't mean they weren't able to make it vulnerable for a short time. Everyone was through the ground bridge with relics and weapons of their choosing, Soundwave and I being the last ones to depart. Ratchet stayed back with the kids on the comm system, ready to be there to open it back up if the mission was successful or things went wrong. Dang, if we really are successful… we'll have saved Earth from the Decepticons once and for all. Then again… if this whole thing turns for the worse, I don't know how they'll respond. Will they blow up New York City for real? And London, and Shanghai, and the rest of the world? I have a feeling their patience will have stretched far too thin. But no matter what happens, I do know one thing: in the end, it's going to be either the Autobots or the Decepticons that go up in flames.


End file.
